Ninety-six sermons

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i

NINETY-SIX SERMONS

BY THE

EIGHT HONOURABLE AND REVEREND

FATHER IN GOD,

LANCELOT ANDREWES,

SOMETIME LORD BISHOP OF WINCUE8TEIL

PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S SPECIAL COMMAND.

VOL. IL

X

V

OXFORD :

JOHN HENRY PARKER.
MDOCCXLIX.

OXFORD :
PRINTED BY I. 8IIRIMPTON.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

The same plan has been pursued in the present as in the
preceding volume, and although, from circumstances which
it is unnecessary to explain, the same time has not been
occupied in its preparation for the press, equal pains have
been taken with a view to attain the greatest possible
accuracy.

The number of Sermons now published is twenty-two, of
which six were preached during Lent, three on Good-Friday,
and the remaining thirteen, out of eighteen, the whole series
upon the Resurrection, on Easter-day.

Of those delivered during Lent, four were preached before
Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich, St. James's, and Hampton
Court, between the years 1589 and 1594 ; and the two last
were preached before the Court at Richmond and Greenwich
on the fifth of March, and the fourth of April, 1 596.

The topics touched upon in the Lent Sermons are, briefly,
the following : That the strength of a land is in its pillars, the
worship of God, and the due administration of Justice ; That
the Most High is to be recognised as the chief Head of every
government, to Whom all civil rulers are subordinate ; That
as our Saviour accepted with favour, and as a good work, the
anointing of His natural body by Mary Magdalene, so He
will no less graciously accept whatever is done for His body
mystical, the Church ; That from the lamentable fall of Lot's
wife, we learn the necessity of perseverance in the course of
well-doing ; That from the miserable state of the rich man

VI PREFACE.

tormented in Hades^ we are taught the necessity of consider-
ing what we shall be hereafter; and that from the example of
St. Paul, we find that love for souls, if sincere, will not be
disheartened, however it may be requited. Such is a general
outline of this series of Sermons, and as the temper of the
times in which the Bishop lived was not altogether unlike our
own, so it will be found that the truths therein evolved are
such as may well be appreciated by ourselves.

The Sermons upon the Passion are only three in number.
The second and third were preached before King James I. at
Whitehall and Greenwich, on the sixth of April 1604, and
the twenty-ninth of March 1605. The first was preached at
the Court on the twenty-fifth of March 1597. They will be
found to enter fully, but most reverently, into the subject of
our Saviour's unexampled sufferings, both mental and bodily ;
to investigate the causes and motives which led to the death
of the Son of God for us and for our salvation ; to point out
the inestimable benefits which have resulted to mankind from
the propitiation thereby made for the sins of the whole world ;
and to enforce the necessity, of "looking unto Jesus, the
Author and Finisher of our faith,*' for a due sense and re-
ception of the blessings purchased in His blood.

Of the thirteen Sermons which are here given on the
Resurrection, twelve were preached at Whitehall before King
James I. The remaining one, the thirteenth, was also
preached before the King at Durham Cathedral, and the
whole were delivered during the period commencing with
Easter-day 1606, and ending with Easter-day 1618, both
inclusive.

Of these Discourses it is not necessary to give any
lengthened analysis. Plain, Scriptural, and Catholic, they
speak for themselves, and while every topic of weight and
moment, whether derived from the Law, or from the Prophets
and Psalms, or from the Apostolic writings, is treated in

PREFACE.

VU

a manner at once searching and satisfactory^ the Student in
Theology wiU hardly fail to derive from their serious
perusal both instruction and encouragement; — ^instruc-
tion in points of doctrine^ and encouragement to set his
affections on things above^ " where Christ sitteth at the right
hand of God/'

The texts at the head of each Sermon are^ as before, for
the most part from the Genevan Bible. The chief variations
are verbal, and the most important are inserted in a note
below*.

With respect to quotations generaUy, it is perhaps necessary
again to caution the reader, that he must not expect to find
the exact passages referred to. For the most part the
substance only is given, and therefore it is possible that in
some few instances the Editor may have been mistaken in his
reference. In all cases however which appeared at all
doubtful, the words " vide^' or " confer '^ have been used, but

* The variations are g^ven in italics —

Sermons Preached in Lent.

Serm. I. & II. No variation.

Serm. III. Mark xiv. 4 — 6. Ver. 5.

and they murmured

Serm. IV. V. & VI. No variation.

Sermons Preached on Good-
Friday.

Serm. I. No variation.

Serm. II. Lament, i 12 this way.

Behold and see if ever there be sorrow
like unto My sorrow .... wherewith
the Lord hath qfflicted Me iu the day
oi His fierce wrath.

Serm. III. No variation.

Sermons Preached on Easter-day.
Serm. L & II. No variation.

Serm. III. Mark xvL 1—7 that

they might . . . anoint Him. Ver. 2.
.... when the sun was now risen,

Serm. IV., V., VI., VII., & VIIL No.
variation of the least im]:ortance.

Serm. IX. Philip, li. 8—11. Ver. 8.
. . . became obedient. Ver. 9. Where-
fore God .... Ver. 10. . . . oithingsin
Heaven, and things in Earth, and
things under the Earth.

Serm. X. John ii. 19 . . . in three days. . .

Serm. XI. 1 Peter 3, 4. Ver. 3 . . .
God even the Father. Ver. 4 ... to an
inheritance immortal . . . .and that
withereth not, reserved in Heaven
for us,

Serm. XII. No variation of the least
importance.

Serm. XIII. 1 Cor. xi. 16. If any man
lust to be contentious

Vlll PRKFACE.

wherever a reference is enclosed in brackets without this
addition^ there the reader will invariably find the quotation
intended by the bishop.

J. P. W.

Magdalene College f
Tlie Feast of the yinnnnciathn,
1841.'

CONTENTS.

SERMONS PREACHED IN LENT.

SERMON I.

(Page 8.)

Preaohed. before Queen Elizabeth, at Greenwich, on Wednesday, the Eleventh of

March, a.d. mdlxxxix.

Psalm Ixxv. 3.
TTie earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved : but I

mil establish the pillars of it,

SERMON II.

(Page 16.)

Preached before Queen Elizabeth, at Greenwich, on the Twenty-fourth of
February, a.d. mdxc. being St. Matthias's Day.

Psalm Ixxvii. 20.
Thou didst lead Thy people like sheep^ by the hand of Moses

and Aaron.

SERMON III.

(Page 37.)

Preached before Queen Elizabeth, at St James's, on Wednesday, being the

Thirtieth of March, a.d. mdxciii.

' Mark xiv. 4—6.
Therefore some disdained among themselves^ and saidy To what

end is this waste of ointment 9
For it might have been sold for more than three hundred

pence, and been given to the poor. And they grudged

against Iter.
BtU Jesus said, Let her alone, why^ trouble ye Iwr ? she hath

wrought a good work on Me,

CONTENTS.

SERMON IV.

(Page 61.)

Preached before Queen Elizabeth) at Hampton Courti on Wednesday, being the

Sixth of March, a.d. mdxciv.

Luke xvii. 32.
Remember Lofs wife.

SERMON V.

(Page 78.)
Preached in the Court at Richmond, on Tuesday, being the Fifth of March,

A.D. MDXCVI.

Luke xvi. 25.

Son, remember that thou, in thy life time, receivedst thy pleasure
(or good things ;) and liketoise Lazarus pains : Now therefore
is he comforted, and thou art tormented.

SERMON VL

(Page 98.)
Preached in the Court at Greenwich, on Sunday, being the Fourth of April,

A.D. MDXCVI.

2 Corinthians xii. 15.

And I will most gladly bestow, and will be bestowed for your
souls, though the more I love you, the less I am loved.

SERMONS PREACHED UPON GOOD-FRIDAY.

SERMON L

(Page 119.)

Preached at the Court, on the Twenty-fifth of March, a.d. mdxcvii. being

Good-Friday.

Zechariah xii. 10.
And t/iey shall look upon Me, Wlwm they have pierced.

CONTENTS. XI

SERMON II.

(Page 138.)

Preached before the King's Majesty, at Whitehall, on the Sixth of April,

A.D. MDCiv., being Good-Friday.

Lamentations i. 12.
Have ye no regard, O all ye that pass by the way ? Consider,
and behold, if ever there were sorroto like My sorrow, which
was done unto Me, wherewith the Lord did afflict Me in tfie
day of the fierceness of His wrath,

SERMON III.

(Page 158.)

Preached before the King's Majesty, at Greenwich, on the Twenty-ninth of

March, a.d. mdcv., being Good- Friday.

Hebrews xii. 2.

Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who
for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, and
despised the shame ; and is set at the right-hand of the throne
of God.

SERMONS OF THE RESURRECTION,

PREACHED ON EA8TER-DAY.

SERMON 1.

(Page 187.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Sixth of April,

A.D. MDCvi. being Easter-day.

Romans vi. 9 — 11.

Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more ;

death hath no more dominion over Him.
For, in that He died, He died once to sin ; but in that He liveth,

He liveth to God.
Likeunse think {or account) ye also, that ye are dead to sin, but

are alive to God in Jesus Christ our I^ord. ^

XU CONTENTS.

SERMON II.

(Page 206.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Fifth of April,

A.D. MDCVii., being Easter-day.

1 Corinthians xv. 20.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and was made the first

fruits of them that sleep.

SERMON III.

(Page 221.)

Preached before the King's Majesty, at Whitehall, on the Twenty-seventh of

March, a.d. mdcviii., being Easter-day.

Mark xvi. 1 — 7.

And when the Sabbath day was past, Mary Magdalene, and
Mary the mothe?* of James, and Salome, bought sweet oint-
ments, that they might come and embalm Him.

Therefore early in the morning, the first day of the week, they
came unto the sepulchre, when the sun was yet rising.

And they said one to another, Who shall roll us away this stone
from the door of the sepulchre 9

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away ;
for it was a very great one.

So they went into the sepulchre, and saw a young man sitting at
the right side, clothed in a long white robe; and they were
afraid.

But he said unto them. Be not afraid: ye seek Jesus of Naza-
reth, Which hath been crucified ; He is risen, He is not here ;
Behold the place where they put Him.

But go your way and tell His disciples, and Peter, that He will
go before you into Galilee : there shall ye see Him, as He said
unto you.

CONTENTS. xiii

SERMON IV.

(Page 238.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Sixteenth of April,

A.D. MDCix., being Easter-day.

John XX. 19.

The same day then, at nighty which v)as the first day of the week,
and when the doors were shut where the Disciples were
assembled for fear of the JewSy came Jesus and stood in the
midst, and said to themy Peace he unto you.

SERMON V.

(Page 252.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Eighth of April,

A.D. MDCIX., being Easter-day.

Job xix. 23—27.

Oh that my words were now written I Oh that they were written

even in a booh !
And graven with an iron pen in leady or in stone for ever!
For I am sure that my Redeemer livethy and He shall stand the

last on the earth (ory and I shall rise again in the last day

from the earth.)
And though after my skin worms destroy this bodyy I shall see

God in myfiesh.
Whom I myself shall seCy and mine eyes shall behold, and none

other for me, though my reins are consumed within me, ( Or,

and this hope is laid up in my bosom.)

SERMON VI.

(Page 270.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Twenty-fourth of
March, A.D. mdcxi. being Easter-day, and being also the day of the beginning
of his Majesty's most gracious Reign.

Psalm cxviii. 22.

TJie Stone Which the builders refusedy the same Stone is become
(or made) the Head of the corner.

XIV CONTENTS.

SERMON VII.

(Page 290.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Twelfth of April,

A.D. MDCXii., being Easter- day.

1 Corinthians v. 7, 8.
^ Purge out therefore the old leaven^ that ye may he a new lumpy
as ye are unleavened; for Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for Its :
TTierefore let us keep the Feast ^ not with old leaven, neither with
the leaven of maliciousness and wickedness; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

SERMON VIII.

(Page 309.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehalli on the Eighteenth of April,

A.D. MDCxiii., being Easter-day.

Colossians ili. 1, 2.
Jfye then be risen unth Christ, seek those things which are above,

where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
Set your affections, or minds, on things which are above; and

not on things which are on the earth.

SERMON IX.

(Page 323.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Twenty-fourth of April,

A.D. MDCxiv., being Easter-day.

Fhilippians ii. 8 — II.

He humbled Himself, made obedient unto death, even the death

of the Cross.
For this cause hath God also highly exalted Him ; and given

Him a Name above every name.
That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in

Heaven, and in earth, and under the earth.
And that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is the

Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

CONTENTS. XT

SERMON X.

(Page 844.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Ninth of April,

A.D. MDcxv., being Easter-day.

John ii. 19.

Jesus answered and said. Dissolve (or destroy) this Temple, and
tvithin three days I vnll raise it up again.

SERMON XI.

(Page 364.)

Preached before the King's Majesty at Whitehall, on the Thirty-first of March,

A.D. MDcxvi., being Easter-day.

1 Peter i. 3, 4.

Blessed he God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead.

To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in Heaven for you.

SERMON XII.

(Page 38.3.)

Preached before the King's Majesty, in the Cathedral Church at Durham, on the
Twentieth of April, a.d. mdcxvii., being Easter-day.

Matthew xii. 39, 40.

But He answered and said unto them. An evil and adulterous

generation seeketh a sign, but no sign shall be given unto it,

save the sign of the Prophet Jonas :
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whalers

belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights

in the Jieart of the earth.

xn ci: vTEv*.

sEKMOx xm

7*1^ via-.
if^rvaisaMk. iftdATs Tint Kisic^* lLij*eRT ic ^r"jin*T.i.". lo. =112 F±l :<f Jkpril.

1 CoriDthiaiK xL 16.
Bmi if^oky wuok utim. lo It cumUmii'm^ mf iNzn »!> JvcA custom,

wuniker Out CAttrc^s of G*jd^

RMONS PREACHED IN LENT.

B

A SERMON

PREACHED BBFOBB

QUEEN ELIZABETH, AT GREENWICH,

ON WEDNESDAY, THE ELEVENTH OF MARCH, A.D. UDLXXXIX.

Psalm Ixxv. 3.
The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved : but I
will establish the pillars of it,

Liquefacta est terra, et omnes qui habitant in ca : Ego confirmavi
columnas ejus,

[The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved : 1 bear up
the pillars of it, Engl. Trans.]

It was Moses, the Man of God, that by special direction
from God first began, and brought up this order, to make
music the conveyer of men's duties into their minds. AndDeu.8i.i9.
David sithence hath continued it, and brought it to perfection
in this book, as having a special grace and felicity in this
kind; he for Songs, and his son Solomon for Proverbs. By
which two, that is, by the unhappy adage, and by a wanton
song, Satan hath ever breathed most of his infection and
poison into the mind of man.

In which holy and Heavenly use of his harp, he doth,
by his tunes of music, teach men how to set themselves Ps. i5.
in tune. How not only to tune themselves, but how to tune '^P®*^*™'-'
their households. And not only there, but here in this Ps. loi.
Psalm, how to preserve harmony, or, as he termeth it, how to i^P*^*™ -I
sing neperdasy to a commonwealth. So saith the inscription, [Vid. S.
which St. Augustine very fitly calleth the key of every En. in Ps.

Psalm. 1. et Serm.

For the time of setting this song, by general consent of all H'y^^^^
expositors, being the latter end of the long dissension between prior,
the Houses of David and Saul, evident it is, the estate of the

b2

4 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. land was very near to a perdasy and needed ne perdas to be

'. sung unto it.

For, besides the great overthrow in the mountains of
Gilboa, given by the enemy, wherein the King and three

iSam.31.7. of his SOUS were slain, and a great part of the country
surprised by the Philistine, the desolation of a divided
kingdom was come upon them too. For within themselves

2Sam.8.i2. they Were at Cujus est terra ? even at civil wars. At the

2Sam.2.i4. beginning but "a play" — so Abner termeth it, but "bitter-

2Sam.2.26. ness at the end," as the same Abner confesseth. Surely, it
was a weak state and low brought: so much doth David
imply in the fore part of the verse, that he found the land
a weak land, by means the strength and pillars of it were
all out of course by the misgovernment of Saul. But then
withal in the latter part of the verse' he professeth, he will
leave it a land of strength, by re-establishing the pillars, and
re-edifying the state new again. *^ The earth," &c.

The style whereof runneth in the terms of Architecture,
very aptly resembling the government to a frame of building ;
the same set upon and borne up by certain bases and pillars,
the strength whereof assureth, or the weakness endangereth
the whole ; and David himself to a skilful builder, surveying
the pillars, and searching into the decays ; repairing their
ruins, and setting them into course again.

The Whereout ariseth naturally the entreaty of these four

division. , .^ . ./

points :
I. That the weakness or strength of a land, is a point of im-
portant consideration.
II. That the strength of a land is in the pillars ; and what
they are.

III. That the upholding of those pillars appertaineth to David.

IV. How, and in what sort, Saul weakened them in his time ;
and David in his made them fast.

I. First, David had read that, among the instructions de-
Numi8.i9. livered by Moses to the spies, the very first and chief of all
was. Whether the land were weak or strong. So he had read,
and so he believed it to be ; and so it is. For sure, in such
lands where this is their song, *'The earth is weak," their
music is all out of tune. For the note is such as affecteth the
inhabitants with fear. 1, Fear, in the inhabitant, for these

Sermons preached in Lent, 5

;wo, 1. Virtus testacea, and 2. Car cereum, "strength like Ps. 22. 14,

L potsherd/' and "a heart like wax:" a weak land, and

i fearful inhabitant, go together. 2. Courage, in the enemy :

or where Rabshakeh knoweth but so much, that the land is isa. 86.12.

^eak, jou shall not entreat him to speak any thing but

3ebrew.

This music is heavy, and therefore David saw the song
oust be new set And so he doth set it new, changing it into
I more pleasant note, " But I will strengthen it.'^ And when
he note is so changed, " in that day shall this song be sung Isa. 26. 1.
n the land of Judah, We have a strong city ; salvation hath
jiod set for the walls and bulwarks of it."

This music hath life in it, and hearteneth the inhabitant

ifresh; quaileth the enemy and resolveth the neighbour

to say, ** Thine are we, O David, and on thy side, thou son iChr.i2.i8.

rf Jesse." When a prince may say of his land, as Moses did

of Judah, *' His own hands are sufficient for him'' (if the Deu. 88. 7.

Lord help him) ^^ against all his enemies ;" and the land may

say of the Prince that which Solomon setteth down as

the high commendation of a Prince, that he is Bex Alkum^

that is, ne surgito, "rise not;" no rising against him, for Pro. SO. 81.

that they which have risen had better have sat still. And

they both may send word to the enemy, if he threaten to

come and visit them, the word that Joash sent; ''Tarry at 2 Kings 14.

10
home, and provoke not evil against thyself." This music

is blessed, and such hath hitherto been the song of our

nation.

What Samuel said, when he pitched the stone of help, we iSam.7.12.

cannot deny, but we may say the same, " Thus far hath God

holpen us;'' Whose arm is not shortened though Pharaoh's

heart be hardened. Hitherto, " Salvation hath God set for

our walls and bulwarks," and our prince, Prince Alkum ; and

our enemy hath not *' boasted himself at the putting oflF his 1 Kings 20.

armour, as at the buckling it on ;'' and our neighbours glad

to *' lay hold of our skirts and say. We will be yours, for we Zach.8.28.

see God is with you :'' the great blessing of God having been

upon us, "Thou shalt lend to many nations, but shalt borrow Deu.28.i2.

of none.^ Such hath hitherto been our song ; and such may

it long be — yea, ever, O Lord ! And that it may so be, David

teacheth the way of keeping it so still, namely, by setting fast

6 Sermons preached in Lent .

S E R M. the pillars of it. Which is the second principal point ; whal

— h this strength is, and what the pillars are that bear it up.

n. The Holy Ghost, speaking of strength, nameth two, as indeed

Gen.d2.28. the Scripture knoweth no more : 1. The strength of Jacob,

and 2. the strength of Israel. 1. Of Jacob, supplanting, oi

prevailing over men ; 2. and of Israel, prevailing with God.

1 Jacob's strength I call whatsoever the counsel or might of

Gen.27.6. man afFordeth; — his prudent forecast, whereby he over-

Gen.30.37. reached Esau and Laban ; and his bow and sword, whereby

Gen.4«.22. he won from the Amorite. Under these two I comprehend

all human strength, the strength of Jacob.

2. But when all is done, we must reserve and keep a strength

Ps. 59. 9. for God, saith David. Who, if He forsake Alexandria, though

Nah. 3. 8. it have the sea for his ditch, it shall be carried captive : Who,

Ps. 78. 9. if He forsake Ephraim, though they be " well harnessed and

carry bows,'' they shall ** turn themselves back in the day of

Deu. 33. 7. battle." Therefore, ever Dominus cometh in. ** Judah's own

hanjds are sufficient to help," si Tu Domine, " if Thou Lord

Ps. 127. 1. help him against the enemy :" and Nisi Dominusy " If that

the Lord do not keep the house, and watch the house, and

Pro. 80. 1. make fast the pillars, all is in vain." Join, saith the Wise Man,

Ithiel, that is Dominus mecum^ and then Ucal, that is, PrtR-

valehoy will not tarry from you; Ucal and He go ever to-:

gether. Sever, saith David, Hi in curribus, hi in equis^ from

in nomine Domini^ the next news you shall hear of them is,

Ps. 20. 8. Ibi ceciderunty ^c. '* There they are brought down and fallen."

Therefore we must allow Israel a strength also, without which

Ps. 33. 10. Jacob's forecast shall fail ; for " He casteth out the counsels

Ps.89. 43. of princes," and his sword too. For, He can " rebate ^ the

blunt] edge of the sword."

Two strengths then there are, and these two David here
termeth two pillars, that we may know what be the pillars of
the land. For such was the manner of the Jewish building —
arch-wise, upon two main pillars to set it. We may see it by
Jud. 16. 29. Samson's desire so to be placed as the two supporters of the
Temple might be in his two hands, that bowing them all the
Church might come down upon their heads. Such an arch
of government doth David here devise, and two pillars bearing
it up. He telleth us they be two, and he telleth us what they
be, for he hath already named them in the two former uses;

SermoTis preached in Lent. 7

. Celebrabimus Te Jehova in the first; and Z. JtutiticLS judU

abo in the second. God, and Right, the pillars; the worship

»f God, and the execution of justice or right. With these

wo he beginneth, and with these two again he taketh his

arewell ; the regard of religion in the ninth, and the care of TPs. 75. 9,

ustice in the last These two he teacheth us ; for these two,

le saith, God taught him. ^^ God'^ saith he, '^ the Strength of 2Saiii.28.8.

[srael, spake to me and said. Thou shalt bear rule over men,

L. doing justice, and, 2. guiding them in the fear of God."

^ that these two are the pillars ; 1. Ood, and 2. Right ; Justice

md the fear of God. These two give strength to that, and

to all lands: 1. Celebrabimus Te Jehova; and 2. Justitias

}udicabo. These two decay all, and weaken the land;

1. NegUgimus te Jehova; and 2. Injurias Judicabo,

God is a pillar;. so is His most common name in the i.
Hebrew — Adonai, "My pillar." And His Son, a Rock ; not Mati6.i8.
only Peter's Rock, but David's Rock too; the Rock both of 2SaiiL22.2.
Church and Kingdom. And His Spirit, a Spirit not of holi-
ness only and truth, but "a Spirit of judgment" to them that i8a.28.6.
sit on the throne ; and " a Spirit of strength for them that
keep the battle from the gate.*' And His favour, " a Shield," Ps. 6. 12.
and His Name, turris fortissima. And therefore Celebrabimus Pro. is. 10.
Te Jehova^ We will praise Thy Name : for " the nearer Thy P8.75. 1.
Name is to us'* and we to it, " the more wondrous works wilt
Thou declare towards us.*' " Arise, O God, into Thy resting- Ps. 182. 8.
place. Thou and the ark of Thy strength :*' therefore the ark
sendeth forth a strength. And Solomon, when he called the
two pillars, which he set at the Temple gate, Strength and Jachin

And Boaz

Steadiness, meant, that out of that gate there proceeded ^ Kings
strength and stablishing to the whole realm. ^-^i*

Even the strength and stablishing of Si credideritis stdbilie- Isa. 7. 9.
miniy by which not only the deviPs " darts'* are repelled in the Eph. 6. 16.
spiritual, but " the armies of the aliens are put to flight" in Heb.ii.84.
the earthly warfare.: Therefore Moses made such reckoning
of Celebrabimus^ that having recounted, as the strength of
Cain's progeny, their inventing of the tent, making of the
flute of brass, and iron works, he opposeth to them all, as able Gen. 4.
to match them all, in the posterity of the sons of God, the
invocation of His Name, begun and set on foot, first, by Gen. 4. 26.
Enoch, as the main pillar of strength which the people of God

8 Sermons preached in Lent

S E R M. trust to. And St. Paul is bold, 1 Tim. 2. 1, where, laying,
— -^ — as it were, the chamber-beams and stories of each Christian
&c. ™ ' government ; — Princes first, by whose means peace, and
quietness; from thence knowledge of the truth; from it,
godly and honest life; and. from them, solvation; as the
base or pillar of all, and that which beareth up, and giveth
strength to all, setteth Prayer ; prayer to be made, that so
princes preserved ; that so peace maintained ; that so know-
ledge intended ; that so a godly and honest life practised;
that so salvation attained. Reckoning invocation as a special
pillar of each estate ; and as a prerogative royal, prayer for all
men, but above all men for princes. Thus doth religion
^ strengthen us, and is Israel with Grod: and not with God
only, but is Jacob also, and prevaileth with men too.

Indeed, nothing prevaileth so much, nor worketh so deep,

with man, as doth it ; and, no men more fast and fruthful,

1 Sam. 10. than quorum Deus corda tetiffit. David therefore, undertaking

in this verse to stablish the pillars, sheweth how he will do it

in the next ; dicam, by telling them their duty out of divinity;

by laying before them Deus est judexy God's judgment, and

the dregs of the cup which He holdeth in His hand. To

make so many men so many pillars, well and wisely said the

[Conf. heathen man. Odium oportet peccandiy non metum facias. To

de^Le^b. ^^^^ siu is the pillar, to fear it is not ; for fear will fall away

Horat*' if his understanding be removed, and where the duty is not

^ist. I. grounded on Deus est Judex, it is no pillar to be built on.

Certain it is, that, except God's laws, all laws, fear of sin they

breed ; but a kind hatred or conscience of sin, they breed not.

Well may they bind the hand, fetter the foot, and imprison

the body : there is nothing can imprison the heart or thought,

2Cor.io.4. save arma militicB nostrce. And thus is Religion a pillar

among them also.

For sure, the Christian duty of bearing wrong, where it is
well persuaded, doth mainly strengthen the Civil of doing
no wrong; and the Christian, of departing with our own
charitably, doth strengthen the Civil of not taking other men's ^
injuriously; and so, of the rest. That he called it not amiss,
that called Divinity the backbone of the Prince's law; and
consequently, Religion of the commonwealth. So that, not
only Moses and Paul by calling on the Name of God, but

Sermons preaclied in Lent. 9

Elias and Jeremy, by teaching the will of God — not by prayer

[>nly, but by preaching — are the one, " an iron pillar," the Jer. L 18.

other, " the chariot and horsemen of Israel," in his time. isfl^

Now if all men had faith, dicam' would have served, and 2.
this one pillar have been enough ; but because all men have
not religion, but there be in the ** world evil and absurd men,^' 2Thcft.8.s.
therefore needed the second, therefore needed JustUias judi"
cabo. Indeedy, meHores sunt^ Hhe better part be they,' quas
dirigit amor, ' whom love leadeth ;' but plures sunt quos corri^
git timoTy 'the greater by far, that fear driveth.' Even such as
will not be 'Med with the cords of a man," that is, induce- Hos. ii. 4.
ments of religion and reason, but they '' must be held with Pa. 88.9.
bit and bridle,^' that is, the curb of justice.

Which kind of men are of two sorts ; therefore it is Justitias'

1. The enemy or Egyptian smiting Israel from without;

2. The injurious Israelite wronging his brother, from within. Ex.2.ii.i8.
Why then. Sit nobis Rex, say the people, which is a perfect lSam.8.i9.
comprehension of this pillar of justice to do them right, and

to defend them by war, when need is, against the foreign
enemy; by justice, when cause is, against the domestical
oppressor. Against the one Jehoshaphat placeth ''garrisons," 2 Chron.
that is, against outward hostility; against the other he2Q||f^Q^
ordaincth "judges," that is, inward injury. i^'S*

Dicens Cyro, saith God, Pastor mens, Sfc, " which say to Isa. 44.28.
Cyrus," the mighty monarch, " thou art my shepherd." A
shepherd, by pastoral justice, to see the flock safe from with-
out, and quiet from within. From without, to keep " the wild
boar of the forest^' from spoiling our lives and goods, and from Ps. 80. is.
within, the " ravenous wolf from making havoc of our souls." Act820.29.
Will you know what these two mean? "O My people,"
saith God, " remember what Balak the king hath devised Mic 6. 5.
against you" — speaking of a foreign prince, of the boar, " and
what Balaam hath answered him" — speaking of a false Prophet,
of the wolf. The case is very like ours, and God grant us a
thankful remembrance and meditation of it ; of the long intel-
ligence between Balak and Balaam for our overthrow, and
bow.graciously and marvellously God hath delivered us !

Now, as without the fold these beasts be busy, and God there-
fyre hath " girt the prince with a sword ;" so within also there Tb. 46. 8.
are certain " fed rams,'' saith Ezekiel^ that with their horns push, Ez. 84. 30,

21.

10 Sermons preached in Lent,

8 E R M. and with their heels lay out against the poor weak sheep (that
^ with vis and fraus, ^deceit' and ^violence' keep evil'rule within;)
against whom He hath given into their right hand a sceptre, •
P8. 45. 6. that by the arrest of the sceptre they might be quiet from
within^ and by the edge of the sword, safe from without; so*
iTim. 3.9. intending the '* mystery of godliness," and the knowledge
1 Tun. 4. 7. thereof, and after it ^^ the exercise of godliness," and the practice
thereof; that so, after Stabiliaivr Regnummeum in this life by
Justice, we may come to Adveniat Regnum Tuum in the life to
come by Religion. And this is the second pillar, yielding us
Jacob's strength, who,- as we said, was furnished both with
GeiL82.io. *^ his staffs' to see good order in his flock, and with his sword
OeiL48.22. and bow against the Amorite.

Thus have we the two pillars of the earth, each strengthen-
ing other ; Religion rooting Justice within ; Justice fencing
Religion without, and they both makingan arch of government
irremoveable.
III. Yet, these two pillars, as strong and as steady as they are,
except they be looked to and upheld, except they have an
upholder and that a good one. Religion will cleave, and Justice
bend, and they both sink, and the whole frame with them.
Therefore mention is made here of a person put in trust with
the bearing them up, which is the third point.

Which person is here. Ego autem, the first, that is, David ;
the first and the chief person in any government He it is
upon whom both these lean ; he is the head, that guideth these
two arms ; he, the breath of life in both these nostrils ; yea,
of all the body, saith Jeremy of Josias. Even christus Domini^
Lam.4.20. ^* the anointed of the Lord is the breath of all our nostrils."

Familiar it is and but mean, but very full and forcible, the

Is. 22. 28. simile of Esay ; wherein he compareth the prince to *' a nail

driven into a wall,^' whereon are hanged all, both the vessels of

service and the instruments of music ; that is, he bears them

up all. And great cause to desire God, fast may it stick and

never stir, this nail : for if it should, all our cups would batter

Judo. ^ with the fall, and all the music of our choir be marred ; that is

^ifhrlv ^^^^ Church and country be put in danger. Which God

OeW willing to shew, saith Philo Judaeus, he did place the fifth

kkupov^ commandment, which is the crown commandment, <»9 ei^

medf'^* A^o-o/)/^, *as it were, in the middle,' and confines of both

Sermons preached in Lent 1 1

tables ; those touching Religion, and those touching Justice ;
that with one arm he might stay Religion, and with the other
stay Justice, and so uphold both.

And, where such support hath wanted, both have lain on
the ground. For^ both of Micah's idolatry^ that is corrupt Jud. 17.
religion, and of the villany offered at Gibeah, and of the out- 19. 25, &c.
rage committed by them of Dan, both in rifling houses, and
sacking whole towns, that is, of open injustice, God rendereth
no cause but this, non erat Rex; the pillars went down, ego
wanted. Without which, that is, an established government,
we should have no commonwealth, but a wild forest, where
Nimrod and his crew would hunt and chase all others j no Gen. 10. 8.
commonwealth, but a pond where the great fish would Hab. 1. 14.
devour the small j nothing but a sort of ^^ sheep scattered Nuiil27.i7.
without a shepherd," saith Moses. No more oves pascucB, Ps. 95. 7.
"sheep of the pasture," when their governor is gone, but
oves occisionisy '^ sheep for the slaughter." Non popitlus, sed Ps. 44. 22.'
turbay * no people, but a rout ;' no building, nor pillars, but
a heap of stones. Therefore a joyful noise ^^is the shout of a No. 28. 21.
king^' among them.

Joyful indeed every way, but joyful especially if this ego
be not Saul, but David. David, which giveth strength unto
the pillars, and not Saul, an impairer or weakener of them.
It is David's complaint in the forepart, he found the land
weak when he came to it. So Saul had left it It is his
promise that as Saul by his slackness had brought the estate
low, so he by his vigilance would raise it up again. And this
is the last point, how Saul decayed, and David restored the
pillar again.

The Wise Man saith, that *' evil looking to will decay the IV.
principals of any building;" and that was SauPs defect, as the Ecc.io.i8.
Scripture recordeth. Religion first : instead of Celebrabimusy
Negligimus Jehovam. King David, in his oration to the states
of his realm before his first Parliament, testificth, " the ark 1 chron.
was not sought to in the days of Saul ;" that pillar was not ^^* ^'
looked to. Sought to it was, after a sort, religion ; but
nothing so as it should. " Come let us have the ark," saith 1 Sam. 14.
he ; and then, " Go to, it skills not greatly, carry it back ^^' ^^'
again j'' which, what was it but to play fast and loose with
religion? To intend Paul, as Felix saith, at our idle time; t824.26.

12 Sermons preached in Lent

S E R M. and not to ** redeem time/' to that end ? Judge of Religion's

|. , ^ ^g - case by the reverence of the Ephod. A daughter of his own
bringing up, Michal^ saw David for honour of the ark wear it,

2Sain.6.i6. and ^^ despised him in her heart.'' Judge of it by the regard
of the Priest, the keeper of the ark : for very love to it, that
calling was kept so low and bare that they were tied to the

iSam.21.4. allowance of their shew-bread ; the High-Priest had not a loaf
in his house besides. This was the first root of his kingdom :
the ark not sought to, the Ephod in contempt, the priest-

Act8l8.l7. hood impoverished; et Saulo nihil harum curtBy 'and Saul
regarded not any of these things.'

Such another indifferency for Church matters we find in

Ho8. 13. 2. Jeroboam. ** Tush," said he, jestingly, '* let them kiss the
calves and spare not." Let it go which way it will. But
therefore God sends him word by Ahijah, '^ that Israel should

1 Kings be as a reed in the water," bowing to and fro, at the devotion
of every wave and every wind, without any steadiness. And
was it not so? Search the Chronicles. So, God saw this
mind in Saul to His ark and was wroth ; withdrew from him
His religious and good Spirit, and sent upon him a profane
and furious spirit^ which carried him on first to a sinful life,
and never left him till it had brought him to a shameful death.

Deu.33.27. And God was even saying His disperdas to the kingdom, but
David here entreated for a ne perdas, and promised a better
care of celebrabimus Jehovam.

Now, where Religion thrives not, the other of Justice will

Zach. 11.4. not hold long ; when one stafl^ is broken, the other holdeth
not whole long after. And surely his justice was suitable
to the former, to his weak regard of religion ; that also was

weak too.
18am. 13. 1. Weak towards the enemy. It is said, there was want

of necessary furniture of armour and munition in his days.
2Sain.i.i8. And there had been defect in teaching them to shoot, which

David supplied at his entrance. 2. Weak at home too, where

he did not justitias, but injurias judicare.

The parts of Justice are two, as we find in the tenth verse.

1. To exalt the horns of the righteous, 2. and to break the

horns of the wicked.

1. For the first. Reason was, and so was promise too,
1 Sam. 18. that David should have been rewarded with Merab his

17. 19.

Sermons preached in LefU. 13

eldest daughter's marriage. I know not how, one Adriel, an
obscure fellow, never to have been named but to shew such
an one put David by, had his horn exalted above him. This
for reward,

2. And his punishment was no better. Merciful to Agag, isam.15.9.
whose horns should have been broken, and in Ahimelech's i Sam. 22.

17

case too rigorous, putting him, and eighty-four more, to the
sword for a dozen of bread.

And whereas, in kindly justice, the rigour of frcmgam
cornua cometh not at first, but clemency giveth gracious warn-
ing, with Dicam imprudentihtu. So, without regard thereof. Pa. 76. 4.
as upon aay displeasure, without any word at all, his javelin 1 Sam. is.
went straight to nail men to the wall, they knew not wherefore. ^ ' ^^
Thus did justice decay after religion, and one pillar fall upon 10.
another, whereof ensued his overthrow, and the land dan- H^' ^^'
gerously sick of the palsy. Whereof David complaineth, and Ps. 60. 2.
prayeth, ''Heal the sores thereof, for it shaketh."

Now David, as when he read Abimelech's mishap in the fJad. 9.
Book of Judges, he made his use of it, as appeareth 2 Sam. 2 Sam. 11.
11. 21; so here when he saw what had turned Saul to^^*
damage, took warning by it (ruina prcecedentiumy admonitio
8eqtienttum\ and, to make the land strong, falleth to underset
the pillars.

And first, of the first, that is, the stone which Saul and his
builders cast aside. For, coming to the kingdom, he conse-
crates all his laws with his act de Area reducendd ; whereat he 1 Chron.

18 2. 8

would needs be present in his own person, because it touched
Celebrabimus Jehovam^ and that with some disgrace, as Michal
imagined ; but he was resolute in that point, he could receive
no dishonour by doing honour to God's ark. And, when it was
brought back, set such an order for the service of it by the iChroii.2e.
Levites, for maintenance so bountiful, so reverend for regard, P****™*
so decent for order, so every way sufficient, as the care of
the Temple might seem to reign in his heart. As indeed it
did, and as he professeth, '' he could not sleep*' till he had set Ps. i82. 8.
a ftiU order for God's matters, and brqught this pillar to per-
fisction. Which his care was secundum cor Dei^ and God
would signify so much by the ceremony in the Coronation of
the kings of Judah. Wherein, putting not only the diadem
imperial, ' but the Book of the Law also, upon the king's head, 2Kiiig8ii.

14 Sermons preached in Lent,

s £ R M. it was intended that Book should be as dear to them as their

'- — crown, and they equally study to advance it. And in putting

Jsa. 22. 22. the sceptre of justice in their hands, and in laying the key
of the House of .David on their shoulders, what else was
required, but as they executed the one with their hand, so they
should put to the other, arm and shoulder and all ? that is, as
David here expresseth it, two celebrahimiLsea to one Judicabo.
Thus was strengthened the first pillar, and for the second
the Holy Ghost giveth him an honourable testimony ; I speak
not of his military justice, I need not — therein he was trained
2Sam.8.i5. up, but that in peace, *^ he executed judgment and justice to
Ps. 99. 4. all his people." " The king's power," saith he, " loveth judg-
ment," — not power in injury, but power in judgment, saith
2Cor.i8.ia David ; "power to edification/' saith St. Paul, "not to
destruction ;'' that is, to build up, not to decay the building.
Therefore, virtue and valour wanted not their reward in his
Ps. 75. 6. time. He professeth after in this Psalm, the wind should
blow no man to preferment, out of what quarter soever it
came, but God by His graces should point them to it. And

1 Chr. 11. sure, the diligent description the Holy Ghost useth of his
* ^' worthies and men of place, sheweth him to have been most

exact in this point : first, his three ; and then after, his thirty

2 Sam. 23. in their order ; and that those " thirty attained not unto the
* first three," but every one esteemed and regarded, in his

worthiness.

And for depressing the wicked, it was his morning work,
Ps. 101. 8. as he testifieth, and that, as himself here sets down, in a most

heavenly order, with dicam first, as being set over men, and
Hos. 11.4. therefore willing to "lead them with the cords of men," that

is, fair and gentle, yet effectual persuasions. And never did
Pro. 19.12. the dew of Heaven more sweetly refresh the grass, than doth

a favourable saying pierce the inferior from the mouth of a

prince. Therefore, there was no estate in the land, but in

this book, I will not say he mildly said, but he even sweetly,
P8.ioi.i-8. sung their several duties unto them. To his court, his
Ps. 46. pas. Church, his Judges ; his commons, all in one. I will add this,
Ps. 144. ^^^^ ^^ David offended in ought, herein it was, in that he used
passim, dicam too much ^ and franff am not often enough. Absalom
' could object it, when it served his turn ; and when David

was to leave the world, it lay on his conscience, his clemency

Sermons preached in Lent 15

used in Joab's and Shimei's case. '^ A dear and precious i Kings 2."
thing is the meanest blood in the eyes of David" — so he saith. ps. 72. 14.
And that made his people more afraid^cTr him than of him, and
to value his life at ^^ ten thousand'^ of their own ; and that, 2Sam.i8.8.
so many subjects, so many of his guard; not, so many
subjects, so many conspirators, as Saul complained. iSaiii.22.8.

Yet, because clemency is but one foot of the throne, and Pro.20.28.
severity at some other time (for, cum accepero tempus, time Ps. 76. 2.
must be kept in this music) doth no less support it ; therefore,
where saying will not serve, nor Btuging^franffam must some-
times be used ; where the rod contemned, let the sword be £z.2i.9,io.
drawn. It is God's own course. If he, for all dicamy lift up
his horn against God or good orders, saw off his horn ; if he
do still mutild fronte minitari, caput efus mittetur ad tCy was2Sain.20.
David's justice ; — Take oflP his head. For dicam is the charm ^^*
he speaketh of, which, if the viper stop not his ear, will do him Ps. 58. 5.
good ; if it do not, contunde in theriacam, he must be bruised
and made into mithridate \ that others may be amended by [* **One of
him, seeing he would not be amended by others. me^d^^

Thus did David repair Saul's ruins ; these are his steps, ^^^ ^^^^
thus did he shew himself as good as his promise here, a skilful sistingof a
upholder of these two main pillars, which bear up and crive ber ofin-

• r o trredienta.

Strength to every land. And by this means he changed both indhas
the nature and name of his country ; finding it Jebus, that is, ^^^^
conculcata, and so indeed it was, a city contemned and trodden inventor
down with every foot ; and leaving it a new name, Jerusalem, dates,
and so it was, Salem Jeru^ a city to be feared and envied of all Ponuw^"
round about it. So the land grew strong, and the piUars ^^'^J*^'
fast ; and David, for his fastening, in favour with God and man. TodcTs
God, Whom he praised, graciously assisting him ; and men,
whom he preserved, willingly serving him.

The Lord Who hath sent forth the like strength for our
land, stablish the good things which He hath wrought in us I
The Lord so fasten the pillars of our earth, that they never be
shaken ! The Lord mightily uphold the upholder of them
long, and many years ; that we may go forth rejoicing in His
strength, and make our boast of His praise, all our life long I

Which our gracious God, &c.

A SERMON

PftBACHXD BSrOBI

QUEEN ELIZABETH, AT GREENWICH,

OlITHB TWENTY-FOURTH OF FEBRUARY, A.D MDXC. BBIMO

8T. MAITHIAS* DAY.

Psalm Ixxvii. 20.

Thou didst lead Thy people like sheep^ hy the hand of Moses,
and Aaron,

[Deduxisti sicut ovespopulum Tuum, in manu Moysis et Aaron, Latin
Vulg.]

[Tkou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and
Aaron, Engl. Trans.]

8 £ B li. Some, either present or imminent danger, and that no small

^^' one, had more than usually distressed the Prophet at the

writing of this Psalm ; wherewith his spirit, for a while, being

tossed to and fro in great anguish, as may appear by those

P8.77.7— 9. three great billows in the seventh, eighth, and ninth Tcrses,
yet at last he cometh to an anchor in the tenth veiBe,
f* upon the remembrance of the right hand of the Most High."
Which right hand, in one even tenor throughout all ages,
not only to that of David's, but even to this of ours, hath ever
shewed itself a right hand of pre-eminence and power, in the
two points in the latter part of the Psalm specified, the
especial matter of his and all our comfort. 1. The final con-
fusion of his enemies, though for a while exalted until this
verse, 2. The final deliverance of His people, though for
a while distressed in this verse. Which twain, of many
Psalms are the substance, and of this now before us ; and
indeed, all- the whole story in a manner is nothing else but a
calendar of these two. That the Lord of Hosts, the God of
Israel, is El Nekamoth^ " a God of vengeance** against His
enemies ; and but a letter changed, is Ul Nechamoth, ^* a God

Sermons preached in Lent. 17

)f comfort" unto His people. That His Chenibims hold a

laming sword to repress the one, and have their wings spread

:o shadow and succour the other. That His creatures — the

iloud from above is a mist of darkness to confound the Egyp- Ex. 14. 20.

ians; and the same cloud a pillar of light to conduct the

[sraelites. That the water from beneath, to the Egyptian is

i gulf to devour them, but to the Israelite, "a wall of de-[Kx.u.22.]

Fence on their right hand and on their left." We need not

to seek far; in the Psalm next before, and again in the Psalm

next after this, you shall find these two coupled ; as indeed

for the most part they go still together.

And as they go still together, so still they end in the safe-
guard of the Church. Of all prophecies, of all judgments, of
all miracles, past or present, new or old, that is the key and
conclusion. The last verse, if I may so say, of the Deluge
was the rainbow; of the Egyptian bondage was the Feast
of Passover ; and even here in this Psalm, after it hath in
the four verses next before rained and poured down, and
lightened and thundered, and Heaven and earth gone toge-
ther, there doth in this verse ensue a calm to God's people.
This is the blessed period that shutteth up the Psalm : Them
that hated Thy people, or dealt unkindly with Thy servants,
them Thou drownedst and destroyedst; but "Thy people
Thou leadest like sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron. ^'

And in these two may all kingdoms and countries read
their own destinies, what they are to hope for or to fear, at
the hands of God. If they be Lo-ammi, "not His people," [iios. 1.9.
they may look back, what they find in the verses before, and
that is storm and tempest. If they be His, and we I trust
are His — and more and more His He daily make us ! this
verse is for us, that is, safe and quiet conduct ; " Thou didst
lead Thy," &c.

In which verse there is mention of three persons : 1. God. The sum.
2. God's hand. 3. God's people. 4. And of a blessing or
benefit issuing from the first, that is, God ; conveyed by the
second, that is, God's hands, Moses and Aaron ; and received
by the third, that is, God's people ; and it is the benefit of
good guiding or government. This is the sum of the verse.

As for order, I will seek no other than as the Holy Ghost The
hath marshalled the words in the text itself. Which of itself

18 Sermons preaclied in Lent.

S R u M. is right exact ; every word in the body of it containing matter
'- — worth the pausing on.

1. First, in the foremost word. 7\i,God Who vouchsafed
this benefit.

2. And secondly, in Duxisti, The benefit itself of guiding
from Him derived.

3. And thirdly, derived to His people, the parties that
receive it.

4. And fourthly, derived to His people by His hands, which
hands are Moses and Aaron, the means that convey it.

The first I. " Thou leadcst Thy people," &c. To begin with God,
"Thou.*' Who beginneth the verse, by Whom and to Whom we lead,
and are led, and in Whom all right leading both beginneth
and endeth.
Ps. 78. 52. It is Thou, saith the Psalmist, that leadest Thy people, and
in the next Psalm it is " He that carried His people in the
wilderness like a flock." Who is that /Te, or this TTiou ? It
is God, saith the Prophet in the sixteenth verse.

That is, whosoever be the hands, God is the Person, He is
the Tu. Whose names soever we hear, whose hands soever
we feel, whose countenance soever we behold, we must yet
look up higher, and see God in every government To Him
we must make our apostrophe, and say, " Thou leadest,'' &c.
For He it is leadeth properly ; and in strict propriety of speech
Moses and Aaron lead not, but God by the hands of Moses and
Aaron. And that thus it is, that God is the Person that
leadeth, and all other but hands under Him and unto Him, the
Prophet giveth us in this same verse matter of three marks of
difierence between Him and them.
^- The first is in Dt£xisti, *'Thou didst lead," saith the
Prophet, didst and dost lead — didst then and dost still:
but Thou didst lead by Moses and Aaron ; so dost Thou not
now. The hands are changed. Then, Moses and Aaron; after,
Joshua and Eleazar ; after, Othniel and Phinehas ; after, others ;
P8.102.27. sed Tu idemes, " but Thou art the same still and Thyyears shall
not fail." As if He shouldsay ; Theiryears indeed fail, and come
to an end : within so many years they were not so led, and
within so many more they shall not be. But God hath a pre-
Ps. 74. 12. rogative, that He is Bex a ScbcuIo, and Rex in Sceculum; was
Ps. 146. 10. *' our King of old," and " shall be our King for ever and ever."

Sermons preached hi Lent, 19

The second is in populum Tuum, *' Thy people ;" another 2.
limitation. For this people are^ in the fifteenth verse before,
said to be '* the sons of Jacob and Joseph :** so far stretcheth [P8.77.16.]
Moses' line, and no farther. But, T\£ duxistiy God's line ivit in
omnem terram, *'goeth over all nations, even to the uttermost Ps. 19. 4.
parts of the v^orld.'' God's leading hath no marches. This
people and all people are His ; and He by special preroga-
tive is Rex universcB terrcB^ " King" not of one people, or Ps. 47. 7.
of one country or climate, but "of all the people of the
whole earth."

The third is, per manus, " by the hands." For as He 8.
guideth the people by the hands, so He guideth the hands
themselves, by whom He guideth; ruleth by them, and
ndeth them; ruleth by their hands, and ruleth in their
hearts ; is both " the Shepherd of Israel," leading them Ps. so. 1.
like sheep, and farther leadeth Joseph also, their leader,
tanquam acem^ "like a sheep." That is, they be reges
gentium^ * kings of the nations/ but He is Bex reguniy " King iTim.6.i5.
over kings themselves." Moses and they with him be
rffovfjsvoi^ " guides," as St. Paul calleth them ; but Jesus Heb.i8.i7.
Christ is ^Apxnyo^;, " the Arch-guide." Aaron and his family Heb.12.2.
be iroifihe^iy " shepherds," as St. Peter termeth them ; but
Jesus Christ is Ap'xyjrovfiijVy "the high and sovereign iPet. 6. 4.
Shepherd over all." Why then dicite in geniibusy " tell it out Ps. 96. 10.
among the nations," saith the Prophet, " that God is King ;"
that He is the Tuy the Leader, the perpetual, the universal,
principal Leader of His people.

From which plain note, that the Lord is Ruler, the Psalmist
himself draweth a double use, containing matter both of
comfort and fear.

1. Of comfort, in the ninety-seventh Psalm : Dominus Ps. 97. 1.
regnavitf exultet terra ,• " the Lord is Ruler, or Leader, let the

earth rejoice."

2. Of fear, in the ninety-ninth Psalm : Dominus regnavit, Ps. ^9. 1.
contremiscat populus ; "the Lord is Ruler, or Leader, let the
people tremble."

First, from God's ruling, matter of joy. For if we will be 1.
ruled by Him, He will appoint over us a ruler "according to i^- 1^-
His own heart;" He will "prevent her with the blessings p^ gi. s.
of goodness;" He will deliver the power of Stsera into her

c2

20 Sermons preached in Lent,

s E R M. hands ; " He will clothe her enemies with shame, and make

II. . .
her crown flourish on her head, and set the days of her life

Psisg. 29. ^s the days of Heaven."

2. Secondly, matter of fear too. " The Lord is Ruler, let the
people tremble." For if they fall to be unruly, He can

Ps. 76.12. vindemiare spiritum principum, as easily * gather to Him' "the
breath of a Prince," as we can slip off a cluster from the
vine. He can send them a Rehoboara without wisdom, or a
Jeroboam without religion, or Ashur a stranger, to be their

Hos. 10. 3. King ; or, which is worst of all, nullum regem^ a disordered
anarchy, quia non timuimus Jehovam, Therefore exultantes et
trementesy * in joy and trembling' let us acknowledge God and
His supreme leading, that our parts may be long in Dominus
regnavity exultet terra, " The Lord doth lead us, let the land
rejoice."

Yet one point more out of this Tu, by comparing it
with the verses before, on which it dependeth; that as it
is the Person and Power of God that is chief in every rule,
so not every power, but even that very power of His,
" whereby He worketh wonders." For the Prophet, in the

Ps. 77. 14. fourteenth verse, having said of God, " Thou art the God That

Ps. 77. 18. doest wonders," and so particularising, " Thou thunderest
from Heaven, Thou shakest the earth. Thou dividest the

Ps. 77. 19, sea,'' at last cometh to this Thou ; — " Thou leadest the people."
Very strange it is, that He should sort the leading of the
people with God's wonders, and that not only among them
all, but after them all, as chief of all ; recount the govern-
ment of the people, as if it were some special miracle. And
indeed a miracle it is, and whosoever shall look into the
nature and weight of a Monarchy will so acknowledge it
The rod of government is a miraculous rod — both that

Exod. 4. 3, of Moses, for it would turn into a serpent, and back again ;

Nu.17. 8. and Aaron^s rod too, for of a dry and sear stick it came

to blossom again, and to bear ripe almonds; to shew,

that every government is miraculous, and containeth in it

matter of wonder, and that in two respects.

1. For whereas there is naturally in every man a seeking his

Ezek.11.3. own ease, to lie soaking in his broth, as Ezekiel speaketh;

Gen. 4. 9. not to be custos fratris, nor to afflict and vex his soul with the
care of others ; it is surely supernatural to endure that cark

Sermons preached in Lent 2 1

and care which the governors continually do — a matter that we
inferiors can little skill of; but to read Ed node dormire non Esther 6.1.
potuit rex, " Such a night the King could not sleep ;*' and
again. Such a night " no meat would down with the King, and Dan. a. ih-
he listed not to hear any music." To endure this, I say, is
supernatural ; and it is God which, above all nature, by His
mighty Spirit worketh it in them.

Again, whereas there is in every inferior a natural wildness
or unwillingness to brook any ruler or judge over them, asNu.i6.12,
was told Moses flatly to his face, for by nature the people
are not like sheep ; it is not certainly any power of man, but
a mere supernatural thing, to keep the nations of the earth in
such awe and order as we see them in, Q^is potest^ saith iKmgaS.o.
Solomon, " Who is able to manage this mighty multitude,''
so huge in number, so unruly in affection ? Nonne potestatem Joh.19. 10.
habeo f " Have not I power,** saith Pilate ? But our Saviour
Christ very fitly telleth him. Power he hath indeed, but it
is not innatay but data desuper ; and except it were given him Joh.19. 11.
from above, he should have none at all. It is Tu duxisti that
doth it ; even Thou, O Lord, and Thine Almighty power, that
boldest them under. And very fitly firom the wonder in
appeasing the sea, in the last verse before, doth the Prophet Ps. 77. 19.
pass in this to the leading of the people. Their natures are
alike, himself in one verse matcheth them ; *• Thou rulest the Ps. 66. 7.
raging of the sea, and the noise of the waves, and the madness
of the people." That is, no less unruly and enraged by
nature is the multitude, than the sea. No less it roareth,
Dirumpamus vincula eorum^ and Nolumus hunc regnare super Ps. 2. 3.
nos, when God unlooscth it. Of one and the same power it "* *^* ^^'
proceedeth, to keep them both within their banks. Thou that
calmest the one, charmest also the other.

Wherefore when we see that careful mind in a Prince, I
will use Moses' own words, to carry a people in her arms, as Nu. ii. 12.
if she had conceived them in her womb, as no nurse, nor
mother more tender; and again, when we see this tumul-
tuous and tempestuous body, this same sea of popularity kept
in a quiet calm, and infinite millions ebbing and flowing as it
were, that is, stirring and standing still, arming and disarm-
ing themselves, killing and being killed, and all at the mono-
syUables of one person, " Go and they go, Come and they Mat. 8. 9.

22 Sermons preached in Lent,

S £ R M. come, Do and they do it j" let us see God sensibly in it, and
the power of God, yea, the miraculous power of God ; and

say with the Prophet, " Thou art the God That doest wonders.

Thou leddest Thy people like sheep by the hands of Moses

and Aaron." And so much for the first part, first word, and

Person.

IL The second word compriseth the benefit issuing from God,

second which is a leading or conduct, the second part. A word of

glJ^. great compass, and includeth many leadings under it. For,

Ex. 17. 16. to be our Jehovah-Nissi, our " Standard-bearer," and to lead

laa. 9. 6. our forces in the field ; to be our " wonderful Counsellor," and

Ps. 82. 1. to lead that honourable board; to sit in the midst of our Judges^

and to lead them in giving sentence ; — all these and more

than these are all in duxistL And all these are especial favours ;

but the chief of all, and that whereof all these are but the

train, is the leading us in His heavenly truth, and in the

way of His Commandments, to the land of the living. All

the rest attend upon this; this is chief, and therefore the

leading of principal intendment.

And in this leading there be these four points. For that

it be a leading, it must be orderly without straying, skilfully

without erring, gently without forcing, and certainly without

missing our journey's end. First, orderly without straying ;

led and not wandered. Second, skilfully without erring ; led

and not missed. Third, gently without forcing ; led and not

drawn. Fourth, certainly without missing ; led, and not led

about, ever going, but never coming to our place of repose.

1. In the first whereof, we are but let see the wandering and

stayless estate we were in, till God vouchsafed to send us this

Ezek.84. gracious conduct; sicut oves^ like Ezekiel's "stray sheep,

' ' straggling upon every valley and upon every hill." The very

case these people here were in, when God in mercy sent them

Ex. 6. 12. these two guides, scattered all over the land to seek stubble.

Which estate of theirs, is the express pattern of the world,

wandering in vanity, picking up straws, and things that shall

Wis. 1. 12. not profit them, " seeking death in the error of their life," till

God look mercifully upon them, and from this wild wandering

reduce them into the right way.

2- Which right way is the second point; for else it is not

duxistiy but seduxisti; and as good no leading at all, as mis-

Sermons preached in Lent, 23

leading. Now this right way, if we ask where it lieth, the

Prophet will tell us, " Thy way, O God, is in the Sanctuary ;" Ps. 77. is.

that is, it is the word of God which is the load-star, when

Gk)d is the Leads-man. Sicut oves it must be, and this is the

voice of the true Shepherd to be listened to of all his flock,

that will not rove and run headlong into the wolfs den.

Tlus is the ^' pillar of the cloud" in regard of this people here, Ex. 14. 19,

to be kept in view of all those that will not perish in the

wilderness, wherein is no path. Indeed it is both 1. ^' the

pillar of the cloud" before, directing us in the way ; 2. and

the voice of the shepherd behind us, as Esay saith, telling us isa. so. 21.

when we miss, and crying, Hcbc est via, ambulate in ed, " This

is the way, the right way, walk in it."

And in this way our guiding must be mild and gentle, else s.
it is not diixisti but traxisti; drawing and driving, and no
leading. Leni spiritu non durd manu, rather by an inward
sweet influence to be led, than by an outward extreme
violence to be forced forward. So did God lead this people
here. Not the greatest pace, I wis, for they were a year
marching that they might have posted in eleven days, as Deu. 1. 2.
Moses saith. No nor yet the nearest way neither, as Moses
telleth us. For he fetched a compass divers times, a^ all wise Ex. is. is.
governors by his example must do, that desire rather safely
to lead, than hastily to drive forward. " The Spirit of God Isa. 63. 14.
leadeth this people,^' saith Esay, " as an horse is ridden down
the hill into a valley ;" which must not be a gallop, lest horse
and ruler both come down one over another, but warily and
easily. And sicut oves still giveth us light, seeing the text
compareth it to a sheep-gate. Touching which kind of cattle,
to very good purpose, Jacob, a skilful shepherd, answereth Gen. 33. 13.
Esau, who would have had Jacob and his flocks have kept
company with him in his hunting pace. " Nay not so, sir,"
saith Jacob, ^* it is a tender cattle that is under my hands,
and must be softly driven, as they may endure ; if one should
overdrive them but one day, they would all die," or be laid
up for many days after. Indeed, Rehoboam left ten parts of 1 Kings 12.
his flock behind, only for ignorance of this very point in ^ '
duxisti. For when in boisterous manner he chased them be-
fore him, telling them what yokes he would make for them — a
far unmeet occupation for a prince to be a yoke-maker — they

24 Sei^mons preached in Lent

SERM. all shrunk from him presently, and falsified his prophecy

'• — clean. For whereas he told them sadly, " His little finger

should be as big as his father's whole body," it fell out clean
contrary ; for his whole body proved not so big as his father's
little finger. A gentle leading it must be, and in the be-
ginning such was the course. Therefore ye have the Kings
of Canaan in Grenesis for the most part called by the name
of Abimelech, that is. Pater Rex^ a King in place, a Father in
Nu. 12. 8. affection. Such was Moses our leader here, " a meek man
above all the men on the earth." Such was David himself,
2Sam.3.39. who full bitterly complaineth, " Ah, these sons of Zeruiah are
too hard, too full of execution for me." And, to end thi»
point, thus describeth he his good prince in the seventy-
Ps. 72. 6. second Psalm ; " He shall come down," not like hail-stones on
a house-top, but " like the dew into a fleece of wool," that is,
sweetly and mildly, without any noise or violence at all.

Last of all. All this reducing and right leading and gende

leading must end in an end ; they must not go and go still in

infinitum ; that is no leading but tiring outright It must be

Ps, 23. 2. sicut ovesy whom the good Shepherd, in the three and twentieth

Psalm, leadeth to a place, and to a place meet for them,

^* where there is green pasture by the waters of comfort." So

was it in this people here. They were led out of I^ypt

to sacrifice to God, and to learn His law in the Mount

of God, Sinai ; and from thence also to Sion itself, His own

rest, and holy habitation. And even so our people are led

from the wanderings of this world unto the folds of God's

Church, where, as the Prophet saith in the seventy-third

1*6, 78. 24, Psalm, first God " will a while guide them with His counsel,

and after will receive them into His glory.'' And this is the

end of all leading. To bring us all from the vain proffers of

the world, which we shall all find, as Solomon found it,

Ecc. 1. 2. vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas, to the sound comfort of

His word in this book, which is indeed Veritas veritatum et

omnia Veritas ; in the knowledge and practice whereof, when

they shall have fulfilled their course here, God will bring

them to His own rest, to His Heavenly Jerusalem, where is

and ever shall he felidtas felicitatum et omnia felieitas.

Pa. 78. 54. But in this life here, we come no farther than " the borders

of His Sanctuary," as he telleth us in the next Psalm, in the

Sermons preached in Lent, 2 5

way whereof if God lead us constanter, * constantly,' not after

our wanton manner, out and in when we list, all the other

inferior leadings shall accompany this one. For this leading

leadeth them all. He shall lead our Counsellors, that they

shall advise the counsels of His own heart; He shall lead

our Judges, that they shall pronounce the judgments of His

own mouth ; He shall lead oiu* forces into Edom, the strong

cities and holds of the enemy ; He shall lead our navy in the

sea by unknown paths to the place it would go ; and I can

say no more. Through all the dreads and dangers of the

world, through the perils of the Red sea, through the perils of

the desert, through the malice of all our enemies. He shall

safely lead us, and surely bring us to His promised kingdom,

where we shall **see the goodness of the Lord in the land of P8.27. 13.

the living." And this is the benefit, and thus much for that

part.

The value of which benefit w e shall the better esteem, if The Third
we consider the state of the parties on whom it is bestowed, '
set down in these words populum Tuum ; which is the third Popuium
part. That all this good is for the people, worthy not so *""*
much as the least part of it. For, what is the people ? Let Popuium.
Moses speak for he knew them, Siccine popule stulte et insi- Deu. 32. 6.
piens? And Aaron too, for he had occasion to try them,
" This people is even set on mischief." And, if you will, Ex. 32. 22.
David also. Inter, helluas populorum. And to conclude, God Ps. 68. 30.
Himself, Populus iste dura cervicis est. This is the people. Ex. 32. y ;
We may briefly take a view of all these. ^^' ^*

Will you see the folly and giddiness of this multitude ? ye
may. Acts 19. There they be at the town-house, some crying Actsi9.32.
one thing, some another ; " and the more part knew not why
they were come together." Therefore Moses truly said, it
was a fond and giddy-headed people.

Will ye see the brutishness of the people? In the twenty- Acts 22.23.
second of Acts, you shall see them taking up a cry, upon a
word spoken by St. Paul, and *^ casting ofl^ their clothes and
throwing dust into the air," as if they were quite decayed of
reason ; that David truly might say. Inter belluas populorum.

Will ye see the spite and malice of the people ? In the
sixteenth of Numbers, for Korah's death they challenge Moses
and Aaron, " ye have persecuted and killed the people of the Nu. ic. 41.

26 Sermons preached in Lent

S E R M. Lord." Yet neither did Moses once touch them, but God

— Himself from Heaven, by visible judgment, shewed them to

be as they were. Neither were Korah and his crew the
people of God, but the sons of Belial. But that is their
manner, in despite of Moses^ if for aught they like him not,
presently to canonize Korah and his complices, and make
them the saints of God. That Aaron said truly of them,

[Ex. 32. " This people is even set on mischief.'^

1 Sara -8 Lastly, if ye will see their headstrongness, look upon them

19, 20. in the eighth of the first of Samuel, where having fancied
to themselves an alteration of estate, though they were shewed
plainly by Samuel the sundry inconveniences of the govern-
ment they so affected, they answer him with " No" — for that is
their logic, to deny the conclusion — " but we will be like other
countries about us, and be guided as we think good our own-
selves." That, of all other, God's saying is most true, ** It is

[Deu.32 6 ] a stiff-necked and headstrong generation."

And yet, for all these wants, so well weaning of themselves
as they need no leading, they ; every one among them is
meet to be a leader, to prescribe Moses, and control Aaron
in their proceedings. So that, where God setteth the sentence
thus, " Thou leddest Thy people like sheep by the hands of
Moses and Aaron ;" might they have their wills, they would
take the sentence by the end, and turn it thus, * Thou leddest
Moses and Aaron like sheep by the hands of Thy people.'

Tuum. And this is the people, populus. And surely, no evil can

be said too much of this word people, if ye take it apart by
itself, populus without Tuus, * the people,' and not " Thy
people.^^ But then, here is amends for all the evil before, in
this word Tuus; which qualifieth the former, and maketh
them capable of any blessing or benefit.

A common thing in Scripture it is thus to delay one word

Mat.18.16. ^'^^ another. Si peccaverit in te frater tuus: peccaverit
stirs our choler straight, but then frater makes us hold our

Lu. 6. 41, hand again. Tolle festucam ex oculo, Festucam^ " a mote ?"

^' our zeal is kindled presently to remove it ; but then ex oculoy

the tenderness of the part tempers us, and teacheth us to deal
with it in great discretion. And so it is here; populus so
unruly a rout as Moses and Aaron would disdain once to
touch them ; but when Tuus is added, it will make any of

Sermons preached in Lent. 27

them not only to touch them, but to take them by the hand.
For it is much that lieth upon this pronoun Tutu; indeed,
all lieth upon it, and put me Tuu$ out of the verse, and
neither God respecteth them, nor vouchsafeth them either
Moses to govern, or Aaron to teach, or any heavenly benefit
else. For papains is unworthy of them all ; but for Tuus,
nothing is too good.

For there is in Tutts^ not only that they be men, and not
beasts ; freemen, and not villains ; Athenians or Englishmen,
that is, a civil not a barbarous people — the three considera-
tions of the heathen ruler; but that they be God^s own people
and flock ; and that is all in all His people, because *' He
made them ;^' and so, the lot of His inheritance. His people Ps. loo. 3.
again, because '* He redeemed them" from Egypt with Hb Ps. 77. 15.
mighty arm; and so His peculiar people. His people the
third time, because He redeemed their souls by His sufier-
ings; and so, a people purchased most dearly, purchased even
with the invaluable high price of His most precious blood, i Pet 1. 18,
This is that that sets the price on them. For over such a
flock, so highly prized, so dearly beloved, and so dearly
bought, it may well beseem any to be a guide. Moses, with
all his learning; Aaron, with all his eloquence; yea, even
''kings to be their foster-fathers, and queens to be their Isa. 49. 23.
nurses.** No leading, no leader too good for them. I con-
clude with St. Augustine upon these words ; Quamdiu mini"
mis istis fedstis fratrihus meisy fecistis et mihi. Audis mini-
misy saith he, et contemnis, * Thou hearest they be the base
people, the minims of the world, and thou settest thy foot on
them ;' Audi et fratrtbus^ ' Take this with thee too, that they
be Christ's brethren thou leadest;* et mihi crede, non est
minima gloria horum minimorum salus, * and trust me, it is no
poor praise to protect this poor flock, but a high service it is,
and shall be highly rewarded.' Christ will take and reward
it, as done to Himself in person.

Sicyt oves standeth doubtful in the verse ; and may be refer- Sicut oves.
red, either to the manner of leading — thus, " Thou leadest like
sheep;" or, to the persons led — thus, " Thy people like sheep.*'
There we touched it before in duxisti^ in every of the four
manners of leading ; and here now we take it in again with
the people to whom it may have reference. And indeed.

28 Sermons preached in Lent,

S E R M. there is no term that the Holy Ghost more often sendeth for

'- — than this of His flock to express His people by, for in the

estate of a flock they may best see themselves. As here it is
added respectively to duxisti, to let them see, both what
interest they have in it, and what need they have of it I
mean of government.

1. First, as a note of difference between Ammi and Lo-ammi,
ixi-ammi. Thy people, and the people ; God's people, and strange chil-
dren. Every people is not sicut ovesy nor every one among
the people. There is a people, as the Psalmist speaks, sicut

Ps. 32. 9. equus et mulusy " like the untamed horse or mule, in whom
is no understanding ;" and among the people there be too
many such. Surely^ by nature we are all . so, wild and

Job 11. 12. unbroken as the ass-colt, saith Job. Which wildness of nature
when they are untaught, and taught to submit themselves to
government; to become gentle and easy to be led sicut oves —
led to feeding, led to shearing, to feed those that feed them ;
tractable of nature, and profitable of yield ; it is a ^ood degree
and a great work is performed on them. For by it, as by the
first step, they become God's people. For his people are
populus sicut oveSy and they that are not His, are populus sictd
hirciy ^a people like he-goats,' in nature intractable, in use
unserviceable.

Now, being His people, they come to have an interest in
duxistiy the benefit. For vopulus sicut oves must be led
gently; but populus sicut hirci must be driven forcibly.
Duxisti is not for both ; it is a privilege. And if there be any
retain their wild nature, or degenerate from sheep into goats,
as divers do daily ; for them Aaron hath a rod to sever them
from the fold by censure of the Church. And if that will not
serve, Moses hath another which he can turn into a serpent
and sting them ; yea, if need so require, sting them to death
by the power secular. For nachah is leading, and, the sound
remaining, nacah is smiting; and a necessary use of both.
The one for Thy people like sheep who will be led ; the other
for the strange children like goats, who will not stir a foot
farther than they be forced. And this is the interest.

2. But now again, when they be brought thus far to be like
sheep, they are but like sheep though ; that is, a weak and
unwise cattle, far unable to guide themselves. Which sheweth

Sermons preaclied in Lent 29

them their need of good govemmeDt, and though they be the
people of God, yet that Moses and Aaron be not superfluous.
For, a feeble poor beast we all know a sheep is ; of little or
no strength for resistance in the world, and therefore in
danger to be preyed on by every wolf. And as of little
strength, so of little reach. None so easily strayeth of itself,
none is so easily led awry by others. Every strange whistle
maketh the sheep ; every ecce hie maketh the people cast up Mat 24.
their heads, as if some great matter were in hand. '

These two defects do mainly enforce the necessity of a
leader. For they that want sight, as blind men, and they
that want strength, as little children, stir not without great
peril, except they have one to lead them. And both these
wants are in sheep, and in the people too.

If then they be sicut oves^ " like sheep," what is both their
wisdom? Sure to be in the unity of a flock. And what is their
strength? Truly to be under the conduct of a shepherd: in these
two is their safety. For if either they single themselves and
stray from the fold; or if they be a fold and yet want a
shepherd, none more miserable than they. And indeed in
the Holy Ghost's phrase it is the ordinary note of a private
man's misery, to be tanquam avis erratica, " as a stray sheep isa. 63. 6.
from the flock ;" and of the misery of every estate politic, to be
tanquam grex absque pastorey *' as a flock without a shepherd." Mat. 9.36.
Therefore, guiding they need — both the staff* of unity, "Bands,'' Zach.ii.7.
to reduce them from straying, and the staflF of order, " Beauty,"
to lead them so reduced. And would God they would see
their own feebleness and shallowness, and learn to acknow-
ledge the absolute necessity of this benefit; in all duty
receiving it, in all humility praying for the continuance of it, DuxxsH
that God break not the fold, and smite not the shepherd for ^*^tT^'
the flock's unthankfulness ! *"'«''* «^«'

By the hands of Moses and Aaron. This part of the verse The fourth
that is behind, and containeth the means by whom God con- ^P^'manw
veyeth this benefit to His people, had had no use, but nriight ;^^ *'
well have been left out and the verse ended at populum Tuum^
if author alieruB potenticB perdit suam had been God^s rule.
For He needed no means but immediately from Himself; sine
nantbus could have conveyed it, without any hands save
those that made us, that is His Almighty power, but without

30 Sermons preached in Lent

S £ R M. any arm or hand of flesh, without Moses or Aaron, without

'■ — men or angels. He was able Himself to have led us. And a

principiofuit sic ; for a time He did so, of Himself immediately,
and of His own absolute sovereignty held He court in the
beginning, and proceeded against Adam, Eve, Cain, the old
world, and there was none joined in commission with Him.

Ps. 74. 12. He only was our *^ King of old,'^ saith the Psalmist ; and for
a space, the justice that was done on earth, He did it Himsel£
And as He held court before all, so will He also hold one
after all. Veniet, veniet^ qui male judicata rejudicabit dies,
* There will come a day, there is a day coming, wherein all
evil-judged cases shall be judged over again.' To which all
appeals lie, even from the days of affliction in this world, as
sometimes they be, to the day of judgment in the world to
come.

This estate of guiding being wholly invested in Him, there
being but one God and one Guide, He would not keep it
unto Himself alone as He might, but it pleased Him to send

Ps. 105.26. "Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen," to
associate them to Himself in the commission of leading, and
to make hominem homini deum, ^one man a guide and god to
another.'

Per And those whom He thus honoureth, 1. First, the Prophet

calleth God's hands, by whom He leadeth us; 2. and secondly
telleth us who they be, — Moses and Aaron.

God's hands they be ; for that by them He reacheth unto
us duxistiy and in it religion and counsel and justice and

Ps. 103. victory, and whatsoever else is good. " He sendeth His word
to Moses first, and by him," as it were through his band,
" His statutes and ordinances unto all Israel."

And not good things only, but if they so deserve, sometimes
evil also. For as, if they be virtuous, such as Moses and Aaron,

[Ezr.7.9.] they be the " good hand" of God for our benefit, such as was
upon Ezra ; so if they be evil, such as Balak and Balaam, they

[Job 88.7.] be the " heavy hand" of God for our chastisement, such as was
upon Job. But the hand of God they be both. And a cer-
tain resemblance there is between this government and the
hand ; for as we see the hand itself parted into divers fingers,
and those again into sundry joints, for the more convenient
and speedy service thereof; so is the estate of government,

Sermons preached in Lent. 3 1

for ease and expedition, branched into the middle offices, and
they again as fingers into others under them. But the very
meanest of them all, is a joint of some finger of this hand of
God. Nazianzen, speaking of rulers as of the images of God,
compareth the highest to pictures drawn clean through, even
to the feet ; the middle sort to half pictures drawn but to the
^rdle ; the meanest to the lesser sort of pictures drawn but to
the neck or shoulders. But all in some degree carry the
image of God.

Out of which term, of ^* the hands of God," the people first
are taught their duty, so to esteem of them, as of God's
own hands ; that as God ruleth them by ** the hands of Moses
and Aaron,'' that is, by their ministry, so Moses and Aaron
rule them by the hands of God, that is, by His authority. It
is His name they wear, it is His seat they sit in, it is the rod
of God that is in Moses' and Aaron's hands. If we fall down
before them, it is He that is honoured ; if we rise up against
them, it is He that is injured ; and that peccavi in Caelum et in
fe, must be our confession, ** against Heaven and them," but Liu 15. 21.
first against Heaven and God Himself, when we commit any
contempt against Moses or Aaron.

1. And the rulers have their lesson too. First, that if they 1.
be God's hands, then His Spirit is to open and shut them,
stretch them out, and draw them in, wholly to guide and
govern them, as the hand of man is guided and governed by
the spirit that is in man. Heavenly and divine had those
hands need be, which are to be the hands and to work the
work of God.

2. Again, they be not only hands, but manus per quam^ that
is, hancb in actu. Not to be wrapped up in soft fur, but by
which an actual duty of leading is to be performed. Moses'
own hand, in the fourth of Exodus, when he had lodged it in

his warm " bosom, became leprous ;" but being stretched out, Exod. 4, 6.
recovered again. Hands in actu then they must be; not
loosely hanging down or folded together in idleness, but
stretched out ; not only to point others but themselves to be
foremost in the execution of every good work.

8. Thirdly, manus per quam ducuntur; that is, as not the
"leprous hand" of Moses, so neither the "withered hand" of 1 Kings 13.
Jeroboam stretching itself out against God, by misleading His

32 Sermons preached in Lent

s E R M. people and making them to sin. " Leading back again into

i!i — Egypt" — a thing expressly forbidden ; either to the oppression

' and bondage of Egypt, or to the ignorance and false worship

of Egypt, from whence Moses had led them. For as they be

not entire bodies of themselves but hands, and that not their

own but God's ; so the people they led are not their own but

His, and by Him and to Him to be led and directed. So

much for " God's hands.'*

Moses and This honourable title of the " hand of God," is here given to

Aaron. ^^^ parties, Moses and Aaron, in regard of two distinct duties

performed by them. Ye heard how we said before. The people

of God were like sheep in respect of a double want ; 1. want of

strength by means of their feebleness; 2. and want of skill

by means of their simpleness. For this double want here

Cometh a double supply, from the hand 1. of strength, and 2. of

cunning ; for both these are in the hand.

1. It is of all members the chief in might, as appeareth by
Ps. 20. 6. the diversity of uses and services it is put to. In potentatibus

dextrtB^ saith the Prophet.

2. And secondly, it is also the part of greatest cunning, as
appeareth by the variety of the works which it yieldeth, by the
pen, the pencil, the needle, and instruments of music. In

Ps. 78. 72. intellectu manuum, saith the Psalmist, in the end of the next
Ps. 137. 6. Psalm ; and, " let my right hand forget her cunning.^'

This hand of God then by his strength affordeth protection
to the feebleness of the flock, and again by his skill affordeth
direction to the simpleness of the flock. And these are the
two substantial parts of all leading.

These twain, as two arms, did God appoint in the wilder-
ness, to lead His people by. Afterward over these twain did

1 Sam. 15. He yet set another, even the power and authority regal, in

place of the head, as Himself termeth it; and to it, as.
supreme, united the regiment of both. The consideration of
which power I meddle not with, as being not within the
compass of this verse, but only with the hands of regiments
Ecclesiastical and Civil. Which, as the two Cherubims did
the ark, overspread and preserve every estate. One, saith

2 Chron. Jehoshaphat, dispensing res Jehovcs^ " the Lord's business,'*
2 Chron. ^^ Other dealing in negotio regis, ^ the affairs of estate.' One,
PU22 4 5 ^^ David, intending « the worship of the tribes," the other,

Sermons preached in Lent. 33

the " thrones for justice.*' One, saith Paul, being for us in
Ta irpo^ &eov, " things pertaining to God ;" the other in ra Roin.i6.i7.
fiiayrLKOy " matters of this present life." The one pro arisy the iCor. 6. 8.
other profocisy as the very heathen acknowledge.

1 . These two are the hands, necessary to the body, and ne-
cessary each to other. First, they be both hands ; and the
hands, we know, are pairs. Not Moses the hand, and Aaron
the foot, but either and each the hand. As they be the pair
of hands, so be they also a pair of brethren. Not Moses de
primisy and Aaron de novtssmis populi; not Moses the head,
and Aaron the tail ; not Moses a quisy as St Hierome speak-
eth out of the twenty-second of Esay, and Aaron a qua^i quis ;
but both of one parentage, both one man^s children.

2. Secondly, being both hands, neither of them is super-
fluous, no more to be spared, than may the hands ; but both
are absolutely necessary, and a maimed and lame estate it is,
where either is wanting. The estate of Israel, in the seven- Judg.i7.6.
teenth of the Judges, without a civil governor proved a very

mass of confusion. The very same estate, in the second of
Chronicles, chap. 15. sine sacerdote docentey no less out of 2Chr.i6.8.
frame. Miserable first, if they lack Joshua, and be as " sheep Nu. 27. 17.
wanting that shepherd." And miserable again, if they lack
Jesus, and " be as sheep wanting that Shepherd." Moses is Mat. 9. 3C.
needful, in the want of water, to strike the rock for us, and to
procure us supply of bodily relief. Aaron is no less. For he Ex. 17. o.
in like manner reacheth to every one food of other kind, which
we may worse be without, even *' the Bread of life," and water Joh. 6. 48.
out of " the spiritual Rock," which is Christ Jesus. Moses we icor.io.4.
need, to see our forces led against Amalek, for safeguard of Ex. i7. 8,
that little we hold here in this life; and Aaron no less,
to preserve our free hold in everlasting life: for the great
and mighty Koap^Kpdrope^iy the legions of our sins, the very Eph. 6. 12.
forces of the prince of darkness are overthrown by the
spiritual weapons of Aaron's warfare. Moses may not be
spared from sitting and deciding the causes which are brought
before him. No more may Aaron, whose Urim giveth answer
m doubts no less important ; and who not only with his Unm
and Thummim giveth counsel, but by his incense and sacrifice
obtaineth good success for all our counsels. In a word, if
Moses' rod be requisite to sting and devour the wicked,

34 Sermons preached in Lent

S E R M. Aaron's is also to receive the good and to make them to fruc-

'- — tify. If Moses' hand want with the sword to make us a way,

Aaron^s hand wants too, with the key to give us an entrance
And thus much will I say for Aaron — for the devil hath now
left to dispute about Moses^ body, and bendeth all against him
— that the very first note of difference in all the Bible to know \
God's people by, is, that as Cain and his race began at the t
city walls first, and let religion as it might come after, any it \

Gen. 4. 26. skilled not*what ; so the posterity of Seth, the people of Go4
begun at the Church, et coeptum est invocari, at the worship
of God and His Tabernacle ; as the point of principal neces>*

La. 10. 42. sity in their account, and as Christ reckoned it, unum neces^
sarium. And truly if we be not populusy " a people,^* hut poptdwi
Tuusy " God's people," we will so esteem it too. For as for
justice and law, and execution of them both, taliter fecit omni j
populoy it is every where to be had, even among the verj ,
Heathen and Turks themselves. So is not God's truth and i

Ps. 76. 1. religion, and the way of righteousness. No; notus in JudtBd \
Deus, saith the Prophet in the last Psalm ; — that is only to be ;

[Ps. 147. had in the Church, and Non taliter fecit omni popnlo, ** He >
hath not dealt so with every people." Every " people have not
knowledge of His laws." So that if the governor be not
merely pastor agresUsy ^ a rural shepherd,' such as are in the
fields, and the people of God in His eyes no better than
pecora campi ; so that if he keep them one from goring another
with their horns, and one from eatingup the other's lock of hay,
all is well and no more to be cared for of Gallio ; but that he bfe
like the great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Prince of

1 Pet 2. 25. Shepherds, Who was Pastor animarumy as St. Peter calleth Him,
*' a Shepherd of souls ;" to see also that they be in good plight,
that they be led in the way of truth. It will easily be yielded
to, that per manum Mosis is no full point, but needeth an
Aaron to be joined to it. Moses himself saw this, and there-
fore in the fourth of Exodus, when he had divers times shifted
off this sole leading, while God stood still upon eccemittam te;

Ex. 4. 14. at last when God came farther and said, ecce Aaron f rater tuns,
mittam eum tecum^ that contented him, and then he undiertook
it ; as knowing these were like hands maimed, the one with-
out the other, but that Moses and Aaron make a complete
government.

Sarmoms preached in Lad. 35

3w And what alioold I say m<nne ? They b^ handB, and the
body needeth them both. They be hands, and they need each
other. Moses needeth Aaron, ftwr Moses' hands are heavy
and need a stay ; and Aaron it is that keepeth them steady,
by continual putting the people in remembrsnce diat they
be snbgect to principalities ; by winning that at their hands
Igr his continual dropping his word opon them, which Moses,
lor the hardness of their hearts, is fiiin to yield ta By
strengthening mainly Moses* dMia legaUa, ' doties of Parlia-
ment and common law,' by his debiia maraKay Muties of con-
science and divinity/ And whatsoever action Moses doth
imprison, Aaron imprisoneth all the thoughts any ways acces-
sary to the action. Which thoughts if they may run at liberty,
the action will surely be bailed or make an escape, and not be
long kept in durance. And so many ways doth Aaron sup-
port, and make both more easy and more steady, the hands
of Moses.

And Moses, for his part, is not behind, but a most jealous
preserver of Aaron's honour and right every where. Every
where mild save in Aaron's quarrel, and with those only that
murmured against Aaron, and said he took too much upon him.
Take but his prayer for all, because I would end, his prayer
made for Aaron by name, in the thirty-third of Deuteronomy,
and these three points in it. " Bless, O Lord, his substance ;" — Deu.88. ii.
therefore he would never have heard, ut quid perditio hcec ?
that all is lost that is spent on Aaron's head. Then, ^^ accept
the work of his hands ;" — therefore he would never easily have
excepted to, or with a hard construction scanned all the doings
of Aaron. Last of all, ^* Smite through the loins of them
that rise up against him ;" — therefore he would never have
strengthened the hand of his evil willers, or said with Saul to
Doeg, ** Turn thou and fall upon the Priests." L^*™- ^'

To conclude, Moses and Aaron both have enemies. As Aaron

hath Korah and Dathan that repine at him, so hath Moses 2 Tim. 8. a

too Jannes and Jambres that would withstand him. And he

that at one time disputes about the body of Aaron, may also Jade,ver.9.

» hereafter,/or he hath done it heretofore, dispute about the body

of Moses. It is good therefore they be respective each to other;

Aaron help Moses in his lot; and Moses, Aaron in his;

that they stand in the gap one for another; that so their

d2

36 Sermons preached in Lent,

S E R li. unity be hand in hand as the unity of brethren, strong and

: — hard to break as the bars of a palace.

The Lord, by Whose Almighty power all governments do
stand, those especially wherein the people are led in the way
of His Sanctuary ; as He hath graciously begun to lead us in
that way, so leave us not till we have finished our course with
joy ! Knit the hearts of Moses and Aaron, that they may
join lovingly ; teach their hands, and fingers of their hands,
that they lead skilfully ; touch the hearts of the people, that
they may be led wilUngly; that by means of this happy
conduct, surely without error, and safely without danger,
we may lead and be led forward, till we come to the
firuition of His promise, the expectation of our blessed hope,
even the eternal joys of His celestial Eangdom, through Jesus
Christ our Lord ! To Whom, &c.

A SERMON

PftKACHSD BKFOBB

QUEEN ELIZABETH, AT ST. JAMES'S,

ON WEDNESDAY, BEING THE THIRTIETH OF MARCH, A.D. MDXCIII.

Mark xiv. 4 — 6.

Therefore some disdained among themselves^ and said. To what

end is this waste of ointment ?
For it might have been sold for more than three hundred

pence, and been given to the poor. And they grudged

against her.
But Jesus said, Let her alone, why trouble ye her? she hath

wrought a good work on Me.

Erant autem quidam indigne ferentes intra semetipsos, et dicentes,

Ut quidperditio ista unguenti facta est?
[Poterat enim unguentum istud vanumdari plus quant trecentis

denariis, et dari pauperibus, Etfremebant in earn,
Jesus autem dixit, Sinite earn, quid illi molesti estis ? Bonum opus

operata est in Me, Latin Vulg.]

[And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and

said. Why was this waste of the ointment made ?
For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and

have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
And Jesus said. Let her alone, why trouble ye her ? she hath

wrought a good work on Me. Engl. Trans,]

This action of waste, which by some is brought, and by
Christ our Saviour traversed, was against a woman, saith St.
Mark the verse before ; which woman, as St. John hath it. Job. ii. 2.
was Mary Magdalene, now a glorious Saint in Heaven, some
time a grievous sinner upon earth.

St Augustine noteth ; Of all those that sought to Christ,
she was the only sinner that for sin only, and for no bodily
grifef or malady at all, sued and sought to Him. Of Whom

38 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. being received to grace^ and obtaining a quietus est for her
many sins, a benefit inestimable, et quod nemo scit nisi acce*

perity * which they only know and none but they that have
received it,' as much was forgiven her, so much she loved.
Lu. 7. 47. And seeking by all n;iean8 to express her multam dilectionem \
propter multam remissionem^ as Christ saith ver. 8. 6 ea^ev \
eTTolrja-ePy nothing she had was too dear. And having a
precious eoafection or ointment of nardusy the chief of all
ointments, and in it of TnartxTf, the chief of all nardi; and
in it too not of the leaf, but of the very choice part thereof, ji
of the spike or flower — both for the making true, and for ]
the value costly, that did she bestow. And that frankly, for ,
she did not drop but pour ; not a dram or two, but a whole ^
pound; not reserving any, but breaking box and all; and ^
that not now alone, but three several times, one after another.

This she did ; and, as it may seem, the coherence fell out ^

not amiss. This outward ointment and sweet odour she ^

Ps. 46. 7. bestowed on Christ for " the oil of gladness," — for the ^

^^^'^'^^' '' sipiritnal anointing'' (as St. John), and the "comfortable .

'savour of His knowledge'' (as St Paul calls it), He bestowed ,

on her. ^

This, as it was well done, so was it well taken of Christ; ^

and so should have been of all present but for Judas, saith j

St. John. Who, liking better o^orem lucri ex re quaUbet, than .

any scent in the apothecary's shop, seeing that spent on

Christ's head that he wished should come into his piijree,

repined at it. But that so cunningly, in so good word^, with

so colourable a motion, 1. that it was a needless expense —

indeed, "a waste;" 2. that it might have been bestowed

much better to the relief of many poor people ; as that he

drew the disciples, some of them, to favour the motion, and

to dislike of Mary Magdalene and her doing. So that both

they and he joined in one bill ; but he of a wretched covetous

mind, they of a simple plain intent and purpose, thinking all

that was well spoken had been well meant.

Which action of theirs, for that it was brought not only
against her that bestowed it, but even against Christ also that
admitted it, though, not so directly ; as it were against her
with ut quid perditio ? against Him with ut quid permissio ?
£br that also it might be a dangerous precedent in ages to

Sermons preached in Lent. 39

come, if nothing were said to it, and shut all boxes and bar
all ointments for ever ; our Saviour Himself taketh on Him
to plead her cause. Not only excusing it in sinite illamy as
no ^* waste," but also commending it in bonum opus, as ^^ a
good work ;'^ that the ointment was not so pleasant to His
sense, as her thankfulness acceptable to His Spirit ; that the
ointment, which then filled the house with the scent, should
fill the whole world with the report of it ; and as far and wide
as the Gospel was preached, so far and wide should this act be
remembered, as well for her commendation that did it, as for
our imitation that should hear of it.

We see both the occasion and sum of these words read,
which may aptly be said to contain in them a disputation or
plea about Mary Magdalene's act, whether it were well done
or no. Whereof there are two principal parts : Judas, with
some other ad oppositum, ^ against it,' to have Mary Magdalene
reformed, and her box converted to better uses; Christ for it,
and against them : sinite, that He would have it stand, yea that
He would have it acknowledged, for that it was bonum opus.

In the entreating whereof, these three points I purpose : The di-
I. First of Judas' motion; and in it 1. The speech itself, j*®*^^*
utquidperditio, §'c.? 2. The speaker — "some" of them ; 3. The
mind or affection, " thought much."

n. Secondly, of Christ's apology; and in it 1. That it is ii.
sufferable; 2. That it is commendable; 3. The reason of
both, in Me; for that on Him.

HL Last of all, laying both together : the former, that it is m.
" a good work ;" the latter, that " yet grudged at ;" that good
actions oft-times meet with evil constructions; therefore,

1. though we do well, yet we shall be evil spoken of; and again,

2. though we be evil spoken of, yet we must proceed to do
well. The use we shall make is briefly, ex factis facienda
dzscere, *by report of that which hath been done heretofore, to
learn what to do in like case hereafter.' Whereof that I may
80 speak, &c.

Of the tongue the Psalmist saith, it is "the best member" I.
we have ; and St. James, it is the worst, and it marreth all the motioii.
rest. The nature of the tongue, thus being both good and li^^^
bad, maketh that our speech is of the same conrtplexion, good ^* J^^
and bad likewise. Whereof this speech here is a pregnant Ps. los. u

Jas. 8. 8.

i:

40 Sermons preached in Lent,

S E R M. example. Good in substance, as I shall shew presently ; evil

— in circumstance, as we shall afterward see, as neither well |'

meant nor well applied.

In the speech I commend two good things : 1. The abuse
noted, ut quid, 8fc. 2. The use set down, potuit, ^c. Not
only the defect — not thus wasted; but the provision how —
" turned into money, and distributed to the poor."

We begin with the first : Ut quid perditio, 8fc. ? Surely a good
speech and of good use, and to be retained. Religion and reason
both teach us, in all things, to regard both quid and ut quid;
no less to what end we do, than what we do, and both of them
censure not only what is done to an evil end wickedly, but

Rom. 6. 21. what is done to no end vainly. Quem fructumy ** what fruit,"
saith St. Paul — a good question ; and if it have none, ut qmd

Lu. 13.7. terram occupat, " why troubleth it the ground ?" saith Christ.
So that religion alloweth not waste, censureth idleness, and in
all things calleth us to our ut quid hcec ?

And this as in all things, in waste of time, waste words,
addle questions, so yet chiefly in that which we call bonum
utile. The very goodness of which things is in their use, and
they no longer good than they have an use, which if they lose
they cease to be good. So that in them not only those things
that are misspent upon wicked uses, but even those also that
are idly spent to no use, they are lost, lavished, and no good
Cometh of them. And therefore in them, ut quid perditio
indeed? is well said. This they learned of Christ Himself,
Who, in the gathering of the broken meat, gave charge, ut ne

Joh. 6. 12. quid perdatur, *' that no waste should be made." Indeed, ut
quid perditio ulla ? ^ whereto either this or any waste at all ?
So that religion is an enemy to riot, and good husbandry is
good divinity.

It is God^s will, that of our goods justitia condus sit, * jus-
tice should be purveyor,' and they rightly gotten; tempe-
rantia promusy ' temperance the steward,' and they not waste-

1. fully spent. Consequently, neither waste in buying : but as
Joli.13. 29. Christ S}V xp^iav e^otiev. Not &v XPV^^^9 ^^^ ^^ XP^^^» ' ^^*

whereof we may have use, but whereof we have need' and
cannot be without it.

2. Neither waste in spending : olKovofiia * a dispensation,' not
a dissipation; a laying forth, not Biaa-KopTna-fib*;, ^a casting

Sermons preached in Lent. 41

away ;^ a wary sowing not a heedless scattering ; and a sowing
X€*pl, oif OvXcucVy * by bandfulls, not by basket fulls/ as the
heathen man well said.

Neither waste in giving ; not making j(apiTa^f iropva^y the 8.
Graces, which be virgins, not prostituting them and making
them common, but as the Apostle's rule is, kclBoti av ta9 xpe^i/ Acts 2. 45.
€Z;^e, " as need shall require." So that to all, to needless laying
out, to superfluous expense, to unnecessary largess, ut quid
perditio ? may be said. The reason whereof is well set down ;
that, if we waste it in needless expenses, we shall not have
enough for necessary charges ; if we lavish out in wasting, we
shall leave but little for well-doing. Whereof our times do yield
plenteous testimony, in which NabaFs waste, which being a
subject makes a feast like a king ; the Assyrian's waste, every i Sam. 25.
mean person in apparel like a young prince ; Esau's waste, in q^^^ gg j
carrying a retinue of four hundred at his heels; Shallum's
waste, in enclosing ourselves in cedar, and lifting up our gate Jer. 22. 15.
on high : once for all, I protest, and desire it may be
graciously received, I do not so much as in thought once aim
at the estate of the highest, whose glory I wish to match, yea
to surpass, " Solomon in all his royalty ;" but this riotous mis-
spending, where no need is, hath eaten up our Christian
bestowing where need is. Less waste we must have, if we
will have more good works. It is truly called perditio ; it is
the loss and destruction of all our good deeds, and I pray God
it be not also of our reward for them.

Ut quid perditio is a fault, but ut quid perditio hcBc is a
greater. For hcec wanteth not his emphasis, but is as if he
should say. If the sum had been little, or the value small, it
might have been borne ; if twenty or thirty pence, it might have
been winked at; but if it come once into the hundreds, so great
a sum, so much — verily it may not, it ought not to be suffered.
Thus much for perditio^ " the idle waste,^' the abuse. Now
foUoweth Judas' plot, the use he wisheth it put to. For first
he maketh a perfect valuation and estimate of what it would
rise to, and it may seem strange how he should be so skilful
an auditor of the price of rich ointments, but he hit it well,
for so saith Pliny, the best nardus was so worth ; and that is rTid.Piin.
a material point. For the greater the sum, the more colour 12. 26;
of complaint : ut quid perditio ulla, but specially ut quid per^ ^^' ^'^

42 Sermons preached in Lent

8 E R M. ditio hcBc unguentiy " of so rich an ointment ?" Then from his

' — audit be cometh to his motion, potuit vendi, ^c. Sale to be

made, the money to be divided, and the poor to be relieved.
This is his supplication, and this second is better than the
former. Indeed, ut quid perditio may be the speech of a
niggard ; but this second that foUoweth, cannot but proceed
from a liberal mind ; — potuit vendi, 8^c, In that he speaketh not
to have it spared, but to have it converted to better uses.
And this is a blessed conjunction, when honest .sparing and
charitable relieving, vrhen frugality and liberality go together.
Such is this motion, virhereto no man can take exception.
Naturally our bowels yearn, and we have an inward compas-
sion at the misery of our brethren ; and God^s law willeth not
to hide ourselves from our own flesh, but when we have served
our need, to give to the poor.

The motion then is both frugal and charitable ; and besides,
if we look more narrowly into it, there appeareth great zeal
in it. All waste things he wisheth the poor had. Yea, it
seemeth he reckoneth it waste that the poor is not the better
for ; that to be misspent that might be better spent, and is not
And very exactly driveth to this point ; that our goods may
go, not to some end, nor to some good end, but to the very
best end of all, the relief of the poor. Sure, when I consider
the sobriety, bounty, zeal of the speech, I think many wise
heads could not in so few words have contrived a better or
more pithy motion ; that that which is otherwise lavished upon
one may be employed to the benefit of many ; that these so
many hundreds may be bestowed rather in nourishment, than
in ointment ; rather on necessary relief, than upon needless
delight; rather on a continual good, than on a transitory
smell ; rather that many hungry bellies filled, than that one
head anointed. Sure, howsoever it was meant or applied, the
speech, in itself considered, is to very good purpose ; even
Judas' speech, without Judas' application.
2. We be now to enquire of the person by whom, and after, of

sons that the intent wherewith it was spoken.

•^me" of ^® ^^^ naturally carried of a good speech to enquire the

them. author: partly, in an honest inclination, as Solomon saith,

Prov.24.26. ** to kissthe lips of him that answereth upright words ;" partly,

because it is a matter of importance, not only to weigh quid

Sermons preached in Lent. 43

dicahir, but guis dzcaU Tpinros itrrai 6 ireWcop tov Xeyovro^

w Xoyosy * Many times we be more persuaded with the mind

of the speaker, than with the body of the speech ;' and their

positions move not so much, as do their dispositions. It is

very material in all, and so in this, to ask, Quis hie loquitur ?

For who can choose but speak all good of the speech ? Surely

if we had not been told otherwise, ZehttE vocemy ^ we must

needs have thought it to have been Simon Zelotes.' Zelotm

vocem putasy IscariottB est ; ^ one would imagine it was Simon

the Zealous; it is not so, it was Judas the Covetous.' ^^ Some

of them," saith St. Mark. '' Of His Disciples," saith St. Mat- Mat 26. s.

thew. And namely Judas, saith St John, who first stood up; joh. 12. 4.

and took this exception; and, after him, some others. So

that it was Judas, and by his persuasion some besides ; for

if he had not stirred, they would have taken it well enough :

such is the danger of sinister speeches. Let us begin with

Judas.

And here first, we begin somewhat to suspect, that it cometh
from Judas. Judas, it was well known what he was. At
that very instant that this very ut quid was in his mouth, his
fingers were in Christ's coffers, and one might have said it to
him, Ut quid, Sfc. And for all he spake against waste, he
wasted and made havoc of his Master's goods ; and a little
after he might have been charged with a worse matter, and
yet he prefers motions. Christ telleth us what He Yfss,^litis
perditionis ; and this term marreth all, that ^^ the child of perdi-
tion" should find fault with perdition. The case is like, when
they that have wasted many pounds complain of that penny
waste which is done on Christ's body, the Church. Or, when
they that in all their whole dealings, all the world sees, are
unreformed, seriously consult how to reform the Church.
When they that do no good with their own, devise what good
may be done with Mary Magdalene's ; they that have spent
and sold and consumed themselves, and never in their whole
lives shewed any regard of the poor; when they talk of
charitable uses — O dolor! saith Augustine : Quis tulerit ? saith rjuvenai,
the Poet. Ut quid perditio? doth but evil fit their mouths. **^*^*'^
God help us, when Judas must reform Mary Magdalene !

This is a grief ; would this alone ! But a greater grief it is
to see how he is matched in this complaint ; that in this mur-

44 Sermons preached in Lent

S E R M. muring some other, (jiivers well-disposed and of the better

■ — sort of Christ's Disciples join with him, and take part against

Mary Magdalene. Who, rather carried with the speech than
heeding the speaker, were drawn into the society of the same
repining. And this sure is scandalum mcynum, when evil
counsel raeeteth with easy belief, and subtilty findeth cre-
dulity. When the Pharisees can persuade John's disciples
Mark2. 18. to muster with them and say, *^ Why do we and John's disci-
ples fast ?" whom you cannot but say are good men, whatso-
ever you think of us. When Judas can say, Why do I, and
Christ's own disciples reprove this ? So it is with us ; — not to
see homines perditos queri de pei^ditioney ' them speak of waste
that have wasted themselves,' for that might be digested ; but
to see grave and good men err the same error, and draw
in the same line with them. But no doubt that which carried
these here leadeth them too, — Pretences ; that which was able
to deceive Christ's Disciples, deceiveth them too. And this is
the difference ; that the Disciples in a good meaning went
with him, because they saw he said well ; but Judas, upon a
greedy covetous mind, to have his own turn served. For, cui
bono ? if it had come to the poor, who should have had the
distribution ? It was his office ; so that it may be he spake
for himself. Which did plainly appear by the issue. For
upon better information given by Christ, the Disciples were
answered and remained content. But Judas grew enraged
and fell from fevil to worse, from covetise to malice, from
sacrilege to treason; even to this dangerous resolution,
vendere nardum^ or, if not, vendere Christum, and to subvert
Him That he might not spoil. For all the world, as some
in our time that sought help of authority, while they had
hope that way to prevail; but when that came not, since
begin to hold they will and may do it without stay for
authority, and seek to subvert the state they cannot form
to their fancy. My hope is and so is my prayer, that
those which have hitherto been carried vrith their plots
and pretences, now they be informed and see what the truth
is, may do as the Disciples, leave Judas in his murmuring,
and let Mary Magdalene be quiet
1. That which we learn of this part is ; 1. From Judas, that a
good speech may drop out of an evil mouth. As sure, setting

Sermons preached in Lent. 4.5

aside that the hands be Esau's, the voice might become Jacob Gen.27.23.
well enough. This instruction we have from Judas ; it was
God's will, that even he should preach and we learn some
good lessons by him. And this we may learn : that no waste
is to be made ; and if we learn it, even he shall cooperate to
our good. And as from him we have this speech for our
economy, so from Caiaphas, as bad as he, we have another full Joh.ii. 50.
as good for our policy. That speech, which St. Bernard can
never enough commend, melius est ut pereat unus quam unitas.
Both evil meant I grant, but both well spoken where their
place is. So it pleaseth God that we should hear His
" wisdom justified," not only out of the mouth "of her own Mat. 11.19.
children," but even out of the mouths of the children of
folly. That He might condemn evil things even by evil men ;
and evil men, non ex ore SuOy not from His own, but from
their own mouths, and so their condemnation be just

From the Disciple's too easy belief we learn credit omni Pro. I4.i5.
verboy not to trust phrases and oiled speeches too fast ; never
by the list to conclude of the cloth. Seeing not only vasa
electionisy hxxtjilii perditionisy say well. But if we hear much
ado about ut quid perditioy to stay and think. May not this be
Judas that speaketh now as once it was? And if it be, to
suspect when he speaks well. Of this assuring ourselves,
what St Paul telle th us of sadly, that not only Mary
Magdalene shall be reformed, and her ointment maligned, and
the poor opposed, but even Christ Himself preached, obtentu^vhw. 1. 16.
" under pretence." Therefore it standeth us in hand to look
to the disposition as well as the position; and not to run
headlong to say straight ut quid as fast as they. So much for
the speaker.

With the person by whom we propound the affection 3.
wherewith it is spoken. For as the person is a presumption ;fection
so if this can be had, it maketh a full evidence. And that is JJ^^^^'^^
in these words arfavdicrqa l^ iv kavrw, that *'he thought muchspo^en.

with himself." Jjerentes, et

The speech for the poor, if it be kindly, doth naturally cente«.
come from the compassion of charity, and not from the
grudging of a greedy desire, as this is said to do; and
so should we have conceived of this, that from the care of the
poor, no doubt, but that the Spirit of God maketh a window

46 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. in his breast, and lets us see the secrets of his heart, and

J . ' g telleth us it was not the care of the poor. Non^ quia pertinebat
dd eum de pauperihus^ but quia fur erat^ because he " bare th6
bag,** and took order it should never be over heavy, but that
he might well bear it, and thought all too much that went
beside it.

Which is a point of great use to be understood. It is one
of the mysteries of iniquity, that, ever there be two quias
belonging to bad purposes, as St. Mark saith. 1. One ip
eavToi^y "within," in heart: 2. the other, \iyovt€^y without,
"in speech." Another quia they ^Hhink in their hearts,'*
and another they " speak in our ears," which is the nan quia.
1. The one a true cause, inwardly intended ; 2. the other^ only
a colour outwardly pretended. As in this; the true qvxa^
iv eavTOL^, a wretched humour to provide for himself; the
pretenced quia, Xeyoi^e?, a charitable affection to provide for

Job. 12.19. the ^oor. All sins have so. Mundus sequitur JEufn^ tb6 true

Joh.ii.48. cause — envy iv iairroc^. But they told another quia — XSyovre^^
Venient Romani, the safety of the stute. Herod would leam
where he might find Christ, the cause indeed to murder
Him, the cause in show to worship Him.

Intra $e. It is uo new thing, but common and usual, in all exceptions
to religion ; the true cause is ayavd/crrjats, " a thinking all too
much," a thinking all is perdUiOy all lost that cometh not to us,
that we gain not by. We see it was the true reason the men
of Shechem made among themselves, why they would become

Gen. 34.23. of Jacob's religion, and be circumcised; Nonne omnia qu<B
habent nostra eruntf "Shall not all they have be oUrsT' It
was the very reason whereby Haman went about to persuade

Esther 3. 9. Ahasuerus to suppress the Jews' religion ; Let it be done, and
I will weigh so many thousands to the King's coffers. And
in the New Testament it was the very reason Demetrius

Acts 19. 26. there useth: O, cry for Diana, magnify her. Quia inde nobis
erit acquisition "we shall be all gainers by it." God knows
this is the true cause, and the analogy of religion to nrnny.
It was so to Judas ; and God grant the like be not found in
Israel !

Dicentes, Now though this bc the true, yet this in nowise must come
into Xeyoz/re?, and be spoken. If Judas had dealt plainly he
should have framed his speech; Ut quid perditio? potuit

Sermons preached in Lent 47

vendi et mitti in crumenam meam ; but that bad been too
harsh, for that bad been plain sacrilege; and of sacrilege
St. Paul seems to say, it is, if not worse, yet as bad as
idolatry. " Thou that puUest down idols, committest thou Rom. 2. 22.
sacrilege?'^ As if he held as good a false religion, as a
spoiling religion. Therefore that must be kept iv kavr^ and
not come into X €701^-69, but it must be shrouded, as indeed
the Heathen man said, Movov Seirai Trpotfxia'eaf^ 77 Trovrjplof
' bad attempts need only an handsome pretence ;' for with
the rest they can dispense ; with God and His word, and
fear and conscience and all ; and so a pretence had, it is all
they desire.

Now no pretence more fit to make them perfect maskers,
than St. Paul's " vizor," fjLoptfxoa-i^ €if<r€^€ia<; ; and St. Peter's 2 Tim. 8. 5.
"cloke," hrLKoKvfifia ; the ** vizor of godliness," and the [i^'^^^-ic]
"cloke of religion." And such was Judas here, a charitable
careful provision for the relief of the poor. Whom, though
the Holy Ghost saith expressly, he cared not for one jot, yet Joh. 12. 6.
maketh he them his stalking-horse, and pauperibus is the
point ; that is it he seeketh for, and, God knoweth, nothing
else.

Thishis sacrilegious wicked humour he covereth under
zeal of the poor; and so, to hide one fault committeth
two. First sacrilege, then hypocrisy.

And " it is no new thing under the sun," as Solomon tells Pro. 2C. 23.
us, to ^* gild a potsherd with gold foil," that is, to overlay a
false heart with zealous lips. Absalom's vow was the mask for 2Sam. 15.7.
his conspiracy against David. Jezebel's fast, her vizor for the 1 Kings
oppressing of Naboth. And here we have an invective
against waste, a supplication for the poor, in Judas' mouth,
and yet ** seven abominations in his heart." Pro. 2C. 25.

Is it not heaviness unto death to consider this ? Well said
the Wise Man; "O wicked abomination, whence art thou
come to cover the earth with deceit !"

But more need had we to beware than complain. And
indeed all we learn from this point, is novisse et odisse, ^ to
know and avoid.' To know such there be as cover sacrilege
with zeal, and with good uses cover no good intents. To
know them, and to avoid them. And the better to do that, to
mark the end of him that here used it, and see what became

48 Sermons preached in Lent

SERM. of him; how from this sin, by God's just judgment, he fell

— to perditio; and from it, after to make away himself. To

whom in that case tmly might have been said, ut quid perditio
indeed ? But this was his end in this life, and in the other

Mat.24.61. he hath** his portion with hypocrites," and they with him "in
the lake of fire and brimstone."

So much for the 1. speech itself, 2. for the speaker, and in
him both his person, 3. and his intent.
II. Now as justice would, let us hear alteram partem. These

a^og^. ^^® shrewd presumptions; yet let us not resolve, but stay till
Christ have said; and if He mislike it too, sell it and
spare not.

" But Jesus," &c. There was, saith St Gregory, no error
of the Disciples, prcBsente Magistro^ * while Christ was present
with them,' but it was salutaris error^ quia totius mundi
sustulit errorem, * a wholesome and profitable error, for it rid
the world of an error for ever after.^ We may well apply it
to this. We should have been of Judas' mind, and that, that
carried the Disciples, have gone for current, had not our
Saviour Christ overruled the case, and stayed the sale of
Mary Magdalene's ointment; and in staying it said enough to
stop their mouths for ever, that make the like motions.

Which to do the more firmly, albeit Christ might well have
excepted to Judas' person as unfit — what, the son of perdition
talk of perdition ! Or laid open his intent as wicked and
execrable, ut quid hoc aacrilegium f Ut quid h<Bc hypocrisis? —
yet the more sufficiently to do it, he waves both, and joins
issue upon the very point itself; admitting all had been
simply and honestly both said and meant.

Wherein He keepeth this order; first propoundeth that
what was done, it was sufferable, and she not to be troubled
for it ; Sinite illamy ^c. Secondly, it was a good work ; and
therefore she not only to be excused, but to be commended
for it. Thirdly, the reason and warrant of both, in Me — for
that it was done upon Him, on Whom nothing that is
bestowed can be said to be lost, but must and ought to
be said to be well bestowed. So that there is a full answer to
every point of Judas' bill: ut quid for ut quid; ut quid
molestia hcec f for ut quid perditio f Potuit vendi is answered
with sinitcy Met alone;' perditio, with bonum opus; and

Sermons preached in Lent 49

pauperilms with in Me, Who is of more value than many
poor, after Whom it may well become the poor to be served.

To begin then with the first. Sinite illaniy saith Christ. I.
Not as they hoped, sistite illam, * stay her* — indeed it is but a abiefsi-
waste work she is about; but sinite illam, "let her alone, *^ "^"^^
the work is good," suffer her to proceed. His meaning is ;
Such acts as this was, are to be let alone, and they that
so disposed, not to be troubled. Sure He foresaw many would
be meddling, many ut quids would be framed, and many
pohdts devised, and much business be made, about Mary
Magdalene's ointment, and about works of that nature ; that
every otherwhile, some motions, petitions, plots would be
framed about the altering of it. To this day they will not let
her alone, but disquiet her still. He hath therefore left in
His Gospel these words, as a fit answer, to stay their hands^
and stop their mouths, for ever. Sinite illam^ ^ let them be,
suffer them to remain ;' ut quid molestia hcBc ? a meet reply to
ut quid perditio hcBc f to the world's end.

And this request, to my poor conceit, is very reasonable ;
if, in this kind, any thing may be allowed for reasonable. It
is not, imitamini illamy or adjuvate illam ; * do ye the like con-
tribute to her charge,' further and help her what you may ;
which yet He would have us. That would Judas never be got
to; if Christ had wished him to like cost, what ado then
would there have been ! But this. Do but let her alone ; if
you will not further, yet hinder her not, trouble her not.
That she hath spent, of her ability she hath done it; she
hath not had of you one penny toward her three hundred,
nor she asketh you none. Seeing you are at no cost, why
should it grieve you? If you like not to follow her, yet let
her alone.

And may not the same in like reason be said and entreated
at this day? That what our Fathers and Elders in the
Christian Faith bounteously employed on Christ ; what they,
I say, have that way dedicate, if we will not add to it
and imitate them, yet we will let it alone and not trouble
them ; and at least be not with Judas, if we like not or list
not to be with Mary Magdalene. On Christ it is, I dare
boldly say ; and if I say it, I shall have all the ancient Fathers
on my side ; and if I say it, St. Paul will warrant me, who^

£

50 Sermons preached in Lent,

SERM. in 1 Cor. 12. 12, expressly calleth the Church Christ's Body.
And he might well do it : the first speech Christ erer spake

Acts 9 4 ' ^^ ^™* Himself calleth the Church itfJ?— the word He useth.
On Christ it is spent^ any part of Christ, be His glory more
than other ; and on that office and calling of the Church,
which St. Paul, who best knew the dignity of it, calleth

2Cor.8.23. " the glory of Christ." This I say under correction, is as

me thinketh not unreasonable ; that seeing what superstition

hath defiled is removed and gone, touching that which is

remaining it be said, Sinite illam.

2. From this first degree of sinite^ our Saviour Christ ascendeth

mendaWe. ^^ * higher ; and lest we should mistake, as if He bare with

Bonum \^^y sood mind and meaning rather than allowed the work,

opu8 ope- ° , . . J

rata est. He tells US the very work itself is good ; and so pleads and
justifies it, not as sufferable only, but as commendable. For
that is the meaning of bonum opus operata est.

Wherein, first, He answereth the principal reason, ptrdith
est You may sell, saith Judas, it is but waste : you must let
it alone, saith Christ, it is bonum opus. So that as His
former, of sinite, crossed the motion ; so this, of bonum opus,
overthroweth the reason, perditio.

In which our Saviour Christ looseth the knot, and teacheth
us a point ; to enquire first, Ecquid perditio, * Whether it be a
waste ?' before we come to Ut quid, * To what end is it V If it
be waste, it is well and truly said; but this He pleadeth
is not any, unless, which God forbid, good works be waste
with us. And therefore joineth issue upon the word hmc;
that is, that is done upon him is no waste at all, as Judas
termeth it ; but, as He christeneth it by a new name, bonum
opus. Therefore his reproof is nothing, tanquam cadens in
materiam indebitam, ^as lighting upon an unmeet matter,'
which deserveth no reproof, but rather commendation.

Indeed, if Judas sometime before had said it to Mary
Magdalene, in the days of her former vanity, when she
wasted thus much, and peradventure many a penny more, on
her riot and wantonness; then indeed, ut quid perditio /uBcf
had hit right. But now it was not on herself, but on Christ^s
head, it is out of season. As if our age now would apply
to Nabal^s riotous feasts, to the Assyrians' superfluous suits,
to Esau's superfluous retinue, to the endless building Jeremy

Semums preached in Lent 51

findeth &ult with, to our manifold idle excesses many ways ;
to every and each of these^ an Ut guidperditiof there now it
were right, there indeed were the tme place of Ui quid
perdiiwf But this is, among many, a strong illusion of these
days ; that whereas there are abroad in the world so many
true wastes, so much in ointments and perfumes upon our-
selves, so many hundred denarii^ indeed no man can tell
what, daily lavished; we can neither see ourselves, nor
patiently hear of others, ut quid perdittanes hm 9 Here all is
well — ^all is well bestowed. Neither ut quidy nor potuit dari
pauperibui; the poor never comes in our head. No where
but in Christ ought is amiss. Only in that that is meant to
Him, and spent on Him, there comes out our ut quid^ there
comes the poor into our mind. No way to provide for them
but by sale of Christ's ointment. That is the waste, and
none bat that; and none but that is maligned. We are
perfect auditors, we can exactly reckon how many hundreds
Christ wasteth ; but who keepeth any account of his own ?
To ourselves too much is too little ; to Him, too little is too
much. And three hundred pence that way bestowed, is a
greater eyesore than three hundred pounds, I dare be bold
to say, to not so good uses.

Thus it is, and it is to be lamented that thus it is.
But Christ teacheth us better, if we will learn of Him and let
Judas go, that we may better bestow our ut quid any where
than upon Him. And we shall find it true: the day will
come, when that only that goeth to Him, shall be found to be
no perditio ; and all else perditio indeed, whatsoever or upon
whatsoever. To be lost indeed, and no fruit to come of it.
That which is *^ sown in the flesh, to be lost in corruption ;" Gal. 6. 8.
that which on the belly, ek axf>€8p&va : that which on the [Mark 7.
back, in rags ; that which on building, in rubbish ; that which
to our heirs, in prodigality, riot, and excess ; and that which
is in Me, shall prove no perditioy " waste," lost or lavished, but
bonum opus, '^a good deed;" to be rewarded with a blessed
remembrance on earth, and with a crown of glory in the
Kingdom everlasting.

Thus, you see, Judas is answered, and the work quit from
the name of perditio. So far from perditio^ that it is bonum
opus. ** K good work,'' indeed ; as proceeding irom a good

e2

52 Sermons preached in Lent.

s E R M. mind, possessed with the virtue of virtues, thankfulness. For

TIT

— mercy bestowed on Him, Who only is good and goodness

itself; Who here alloweth it for good, causeth it to be
registered in His Gospels for good, in the day of judgment
&hall pronounce it good; rewardeth it for good in this world,
with a good name ; in that to come, with all the good of His
Kingdom, where no good is wanting.
8. The third remaineth, — " upon Me," wherein properly is

l^Jhtm, Dieant His natural body of flesh, which should not alway be
with us. But they of whom we have learned to interpret the
Scriptures, in a manner all extend it to His mystical Body
too ; and, as they think, by good consequence. That seeing
He gave His natural Body to be bought and sold, rent and
torn, crucified and slain for His Body mystical; His Body
mystical is certainly dearer to Him, and better He loveth it
And then, if He will accept that is done to the less, and make
it honum opus ; He will much more that which is done to the
more beloved ; and it shall never go for less, never did I am
sure. The Scriptures record, as a good work, that that was

Acts 4. 37. laid down at " the Apostles' feet," no less than this that was laid
upon Christ's own head; and in them, Ananias a Church-

Luk©22. 3. robber, and Judas a Christ-robber, both in one case. "Satan"

Acta 6. 3. is said to have *' filled both their hearts" in that act ; and like
evil end came to both ; and both are good remembrances for
them that seek and say as they did. Yea, which wbuld not
be content to detain a part — Ananias and Judas went no
farther — but would seize of all gladly, if a gracious Lady did
not say. Smite.

To conclude, it is St. Augustine, and so say all the rest;
Tu intellige et de Ecclesidy quia qui aliquid de Ecclesid
prcedatur JudcB perdiiio comparatur: * Understand this of
the Church, and spare not ; for he that taketh any thing —
I say any thing, from it, is in Judas' case ;' for the sin
certainly, for the punishment as it pleaseth God.

Now we know what is meant by in Me; it is no
waste word. We will consider it first as a reason of the
two former, and then as a special answer to that of the
poor.

It answereth Ut quid ? " To what end ?" why, in Me, '' to
Me,'^ and for My sake.

Sermons preached in Lent, 53

It answeretb perditio; in Me — why, it is spent on Christ,
" on Me," on Whom nothing that is spent is misspent

It yieldeth a reason of sinite^ " spare her ;" if not her,
yet spare Me, trouble Me not Ye cannot scrape off the
ointment but with My trouble.

And a reason of honum opus est ; for His in Me is warrant
sufficient, why the work is to be reckoned good. Yea, in
saying it is not only good done, but done to Him, He giveth
it a dignity, and lifteth up this work above.

But especially, it answeretb the weight of Judas' reason,
pauperibus, " the poor." Our Saviour Christ plainly sheweth
that Judas is mistaken that draweth a diameter, and maketh
opposition between devotion toward Christ, and alms to the
poor. Tabitha was good to the poor, Mary Magdalene
to Christ. Must we put Mary Magdalene to death, to raise
Tabitha again? and is there no other way? Yes indeed,
Sinite iUamy saith Christ in this verse — let this stand ; and yet Mark 14.6.
do those good too, date eleemonysam, in the next. There
be other means to provide for the poor, than by sale of
Christ's, ointment ; and we are not in pretence of them to
omit this, or any office or duty unto Christ

Pauperibus is not the only good work ; this is also. And
of the two, if any to be preferred, it is in Me : He certainly
to be served first. To which work, not only those of wealth,
Mary Magdalene with her three hundred pence ; but even
poor and all — the poor widow with her mites is bound, as we Marki2.42.
see ; even to add something even to the offerings of God ;
and if not with nardusy yet with oil to anoint His head,
as Himself requireth. This, I say, if both could not stand.
But, thanks be to God, there be ways they may both stand;
and not one fall, that the other may rise. Malachi telleth
us a way, and it is a special one; to do as this virtuous
woman here ; Inferte in Apothecas MeaSy " bring into Mine Mai. 3. 10.
(that is, My Church's) treasures," and I will break the windows
of Heaven and send you such plenty, as you and the poor
both shall eat and have enough, and yet leave in abundance.
So that we see the next and kindliest way to have Judas'
complaint redressed, is to speak and labour that Mary
Magdalene's example may be followed.

Secondly, by in Me it plainly appeareth, how Christ

54 Sermons preached in Lent,

S E R M. standeth affected to works of this kind. For permitting them,
'- — 'Standing for them, defending and commending them, He

» sheweth plainly, He will be content with such as it is. For,
albeit He were the very pattern of true frugality, and an
enemy to all excess, yet this service, chargeable as it was. He
well alloweth of. Shewing us this, that as He is Christus

Acts 10.88. Patrisy anointed by God His Father, Quern unxit Dominvs,
so also He will be Christus noster, and that passively anointed

Joh. 11. 2. by us, Quern unxit Maria, That as here He commendeth
Mary Magdalene for the supply of it, so He giveth Simon an

La. 7. 46. item, oko caput ileum non ufixistiy for being defective in this
duty.

I would gladly ask this question : If the ointment may be
sold, as Judas saith, and bought lawfully, and they that buy
may lawfully use ; if they may use it, why may not Christ ?
Num soils stultis apes mellificant ? ' Do bees make honey, and
nardus bear ointment, for wicked men only V May any that
pays for it, and may not Christ ? Is He only of all other
incapable or unworthy ?

If it be because it is more than needs, let that be a reason of
all. Let the law bold us, as well as Him. But if no man but
allows himself a more liberal diet and proportion of port than
in strict terms is needful, for all the poor, why should we
bind Christ alone to that rule? Except we mean to go
farther with Him, and not only except to Mary's ointment,
but even to Simon's feast also ; Ut quid unguentum hoc f then.
Ut quid convivium hocy too? seeing a smaller repast might
serve, and the rest be given to the poor. So that his allow-
ance shall be just as much, and no more, than will serve to
hold life and soul together. But as He, without any bar or
ut quidy alloweth us not only indumenta for nakedness, but
ornamenta for comeliness ; not only alimenta for emptiness, but
ohlectamenta for daintiness; so good reason it is we think
not much of His nardus, and tie Him only to those rules
from which ourselves plead exemption.

I demand again. If ointment might be spent on Aaron's
head under the Law, seeing a greater than Aaron is here,
why not on His too? I find that neither under the Law
He liked of their motion. What should the Temple do with
cedar? neither under the Gospel of theirs, What should

Sermons preached in Lent 66

Christ's head do with nardusf But that, to his praise he is
recorded in the Old Testament that said. ^* Shall I dwell in i Chnm.

17 1

my ceiled house, and the Ark of God remain under goatV
skins?** And she, in the New, that thought not her best
ointment too good for Christ's head. Surely, they in Egypt
had their service of God, it may be in a bam, or in some comer
of an house. Yet when Moses moved a costly Tabernacle,
no man was found that once said, Our fathers served God well
enough without one, Ut quid perditio hcec 9 After that, many
Judges and Prophets and righteous men were well when
they might worship before the Ark, yet when Solomon
moved a stately Temple, never any was found that would
grudge and say. Why the ark is enough ; I pray Gt>d, we serve
God no worse than they, that knew nothing but a tent — Ut
qtdd perdiHo fuse ? Only in the days of the Gospel, which of
all other least should, there steps up Judas, and dareth to say
that against Christ's Church that no man durst ever either
against Moses' tent, or Solomon's Temple.

And if Christ had taken it well or passed it in silence, or
said Simte illum^ 'suffer Judas' motion to take place,' we might
have had some show. But seeing. He saith Molestus est to
Judas, Sinite Ulam, 'suffer Mary to go forward;* and not that
only, but banum opus too ; why should any, after Judas, be
thought worthy the answering ?

Surely, as the Gospel in this duty hath, and so ought to
exceed the Law ; so in the Gospel, we here and our country
above all other. I will but say with Chrysostom, Appende
Christum 6 homo ; do but construe these two words, in Me^
aright ; poise and prize Who it is, et sufficit It is Christ
Jesus, Who hath not spared to anoint us with His own blood,
and our souls with all the comforts and graces of His Holy
Spirit. If toward us neither blood nor life were too dear on
His part, shall on ours any nardus be too dear, or any cost
too much, that is on Him bestowed ?

Perhaps our particular will more move us. It is Christ
That created for us nard and all other delights whatsoever,
either for use and necessity we have ; or for fruition and pleasure
we enjoy. It is He That hath enriched us that we be able to
bestow it, by this long prosperity, plenty, and peace, as no
other kingdom under Heaven. Is there any good mind can

56 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. think that this is an indignity ? that He is not worthy, hath

— ^i^i — not deserved, and doubly deserved this, and ten times more,
at our hands ?

An extraordinary conceit is entered into the world, by a
new found gloss, to make whatsoever we like not, or list not
to do ourselves, extraordinary ; and so some deem of this as
extraordinary, and whereof no example is to be made. No
ancient writer is of that mind, but that for us it was written ;

Lu. 10. 37. and that, Vade tu et fac similiter y may be written upon. her
box. But be it so. Why may not I wish on our parts, Let
us be extraordinary? For God hath not dealt ordinarily
with us of this land ; He hath not been to us a wilderness or
a barren land, but hath, even our enemies being judges, been
extraordinary in His goodness toward us all. And sure in us
ordinary common thankfulness is not enough. Shall I set
myself to recount His benefits? An easy matter to find
entrance ; but when then should I make an end ? In one I
will abridge them all. We spake of ointment. Verily, Christ
hath anointed over us, and given us a most gracious sovereign,
by whose happy and blessed reign we long have — and longer
may we He grant ! — enjoyed both the inward and outward
anointing; the inward, the holy and heavenly comfort of

P8.46. 7. God's truth, and true "oil of gladness;" the outward, of
earthly plenty and delight, which nard or any rich confection
may afibrd ; and, in a word, whatsoever happiness can fall to
any nation under Heaven. From the holy oil of whose

P8.183.2,3. anointing, as the " dew of Hermon on Sion," and as " Aaron's
ointment upon the skirts of his clothing," there daily droppeth
upon this whole realm pure nard, or if any thing else be more
precious, whether in these earthly, or in those Heavenly
blessings. I speak no more than we all feel. This is that
one I spake of, and in this one is all — even the Lord's anointed.
Whom, I make no question, but the Lord hath, and will
more and more bless, for that her Highness hath said, as Him-
self said, Sinite illam. And blessed be God That hath put
into her heart so to say, to like well of Ui quid perdition but
to have it so applied. I doubt not but this heroical virtue,
among many others, shall make her sceptre long to flourish,
shall make her remembrance to be in blessing to all pos-
terity, and shall be, among . other, her rejoicing in the

I

Sermons preached in Lent, 57

day of the Liord, and an everlasting crown of glory upon
her bead.

This is that ointment I spake of^ that itself alone may make
us all confess, we have received from Christ extraordinary
mercy, and are therefore to return more than ordinary duty.
Non taliter fecit omniy nay, non taliter fecit ulli populo; "He Ps. 147.20.
hath not dealt so with every, nay, not so with any people,'' as
with us ; and therefore not any people to deal so thankfully
with Him again.

This, if it were extraordinary. Howbeit, if antiquity may
be admitted judge, this, as "a good work," is to be ordinary
with us. Since every thing done in this kind to Christ's
Church, only upon a thankful regard, is with them reckoned
a dram of Mary Magdalene's ointment.

At least, if we will not come so far as operata est, we do
yet thus far favour it as to yield to Sinite illam; seeing
Mary Magdalene, that gave it, paid for it, and it never came
out of our purse.

And now this question being thus dilated, it is every man's
duty, saith Theophylact, to set down, cujus partis sit, * whose [The-
part he will take, whose mind he will be of.' Whether with ^ang.**^
Judas, Perditio est; or with Christ, Bonum opus est; whether ^*^-
Potuit vendi, or Sinite illam.

But I trust we will stand to Christ^s judgment, and
rather take part with Him for Mary Magdalene, than with
Judas against her; that we may be with Mary Magdalene,
that are of her mind, which at the hour of death we all shall
desire.

The entrance I make. From this unhappy conjunction of iir.
Mary's good work and Judas' evil speech, this first considera- trine. ^^'
tion offereth itself, nothing pleasant, but wholesome and requi- ^^^^
site to be called to mind of all that mean to do well. That ^o^j^s we
things well done shall be evil taken, and often good affections
have no good constructions, and that received with the left
hand that is reached with the right.

For this her act that was well done, if Christ knew what it
was to do well, yet we see it is disdained, grudged at, and
she molested for it ; — all three are in my text. Whence we
learn. Be a thing done to never so good purpose, yet some
Judas will matter and malign, and come forth with his Ut

58 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. quid f some Judas will cast his dead fly into Mary Magdalene's

: — . box of ointment.

No one creature had so good experience of this as this poor
woman had. Three special virtues of hers the Gospels record,
and in every one of the three she was repined at 1. When,
in the bitterness of her soul she shewed her repentance with

Lu. 7. 39. tears, Simon the Pharisee did what he could to disgrace her.
2. When, in an hungry desire to receive comfort by the word
of grace, she shewed her devotion in sitting at Christ's feet,

Lu. 10. 40. Martha, her own sister, made complaint of her. 3. And now
here again the third time ; when, in an honest regard of her
duty she sheweth her thankfulness for comfort received,
Christ's own Disciples both grudge and speak against her.
So that, if she washeth His feet with tears, it contents not;
if she anoint His head with balm, it is matter of mislike;
if she sit still and say nothing, it is all one ; still Mary is
found fault with, ever her doings stand awry.

This is the lot and portion of all those that will follow their
steps. Not only we of private estate, but even great person-

Neh. e.6. ages, as Nehemias by Geshem^, to bring detriment to the

mu.] * state by favouring the Church's case. Even princes : David

2Sam.i6.7. by Shimei, to be a bloody persecutor, when, if in any thing he
offended, it was in too much lenity. Even Christ Himself the
Son of God, Who neither could have His feet, but Simon the
Pharisee — ^nor His head anointed, but Judas His Apostlei
malign and speak against it

So that not only regium esty as the heathen said, bene cum
fecerisy audire mdley ^ to have evil speech for good deeds,' but

Job. 10. S2. divinuniy a heavenly thing, as Christ saith, de bono opere
lapidari.

This is their lot. And it serveth us to two purposes.
1. Por judgment; to see this evil disease under the sun —
the evil aspect which the world looks with on Mary
Magdalene. Whereby many times that which is commended
in Heaven is condemned in earth, and Judas' bag carrietb
away even from Christ's. Whereby many times all good is
said of them by whom little good is done, and some men's
flagitiay which the heathen story lamenteth in Drusus, shall
find more favour and be better rewarded than Drusus, optime
coffitattty the good counsel and course of many a better man.

Sermons preached in Lent 59

Sach is the deceitfulness of the sons of men upon the Pg. 62. 9.
weights. It serveth us, I say, to see and to sorrow at, and to
say with Augustine, Vce tibi misery bonus odor occidit te!
^Miserable man that thou art, how art thou choked with so
good a scent !' To sorrow it, and to prepare ourselves to it,
and resolve that though we do well, yet we shall be evil
spoken of.

That first, and second this for practice. That though we 2.
be evil spoken of, yet not to be dismayed or troubled with this \q^^ ^
hard measure, but to go on and do as Mary Magdalene did ;
not once, or twice, but three several times, one after another ;
neither to hold our hand or shut our box, nor spare our oint-
ment, if things well done be evil taken. To look not to
Judas on earth, who disHketh, but to Christ in Heaven Who
approveth it, and in all three cases made answer for Mary
Magdalene, against Martha, Simon, and Judas, and all her
accusers. To know that that which in Judas' divinity is per^
ditioy in Christ's divinity is bonum opus. In regard therefore
of our own duty, to be resolute with the Apostle, Quodfacio, 2 cor. ii.
hoc etfaciamy *' What I do, that will I do." In respect of mis- '
construction with them, Mihi pro minimo est; because we may i Cor. 4. 8.
truly say and in the sight of God, sicut deceptores et veraces, 2 Ck)r. 6. 8.
'* as deceivers, yet true ;'' or, with Mary Magdalene, as wasters,
yet well-doers. Assuring ourselves, that it is well done ; and
shall be both commended on earth and rewarded in Heaven.
On earth ; for posterity shall better like of the shedding, than
of the sale of this ointment In Heaven ; for the day will
come, qui male judicata refudicabit, * when all perverse judg-
ments shall have judgment against them ;' and Mary Magda-
lene shall look cheerfully on Him on Whom she bestowed it,
and Judas ruefully behold Him from Whom he sold it.

This is Mary Magdalene's part, as Christ telleth ; that how-
soever Mary Magdalene be, in Simon's house, or in a corner,
found fault with, amends shall be made her ; and as wide as
the world is, and as far as the Gospel shall sound, ^^shc shall Marki4.9.
be well spoken of." Yea, when the great and glorious acts of
many monarchs shall be buried in silence, this poor box of[pd«S.
nardus shall be matter of praise, and never die. And contrary, in cap. 26.
howsoever Judas' motion may find favour and applause in the Homfsi.]
present, yet posterity shall dislike and discommend it ; and he

60 Sermons preached in Lent,

S E R M. be no less infamous and hatefuly than Mary famous and well

'■ — spoken of, in all ages to the end of the world.

This is her portion from Christ ; her soul refreshed with
the sweet joys of Heaven, and her name as warrfi^* throughout
all generations. This is his lot from the Lord; a name
Mat24.5i. odious and loathsome to all that hear it, and his ^^ portion with
hypocrites," in the lake of fire and brimstone. From
which, &c.
To which, &c.

A SERMON

PBIACHKD BSrOEK

QUEEN ELIZABETH, AT HAMPTON COURT,

on WEDNESDAY, BEING THE SIXTH OF MARCH, A.D. MDXCIY.

Luke xvii. 32.

Remember Lofs wife.

[^Memores estate uxoris Lot, Lat. Vulg.]
{^Remember Lofs wife, Engl. Trans.]

A part of the Chapter read this morning, by order of the Church, for

the Second Lesson.

TuE \yords are few, and the sentence short; no one in
Scripture so short. But it fareth with sentences as with coins :
in coins, they that in smallest cOmpass contain greatest value
are best esteemed; and in sentences, those that in fewest
words comprise most matter, are most praised. Which, as of
all sentences it is true ; so specially of those that are marked
with memento. In them, the shorter the better ; the better,
and the better carried away, and the better kept; and the
better called for when we need it. And such is this here ; of
rich contents, and withal exceeding compendious. So that,
we must needs be without all excuse, it being but three words
and but five syllables, if we do not remember it.

The sentence is our Saviour's, uttered by Him upon this
occasion. Before, in verse 18, He had said, that **the days
of the Son of Man should be as the days of Lot," in two
respects : I. In respect of the suddenness of the destruction
that should come ; 2. and in respect of the security of the
people on whom it should come. For the Sodomites laughed
at it ; and Lot's wife, it should seem, but slightly regarded it.
Being then in Lot^s story, very fitly and by good consequence
out of that story. He leaveth us a memento before He
leaveth it

62 Sermons preached in Lent.

S £ R M. There are in Lot^s story two very notable monuments of
— ^ — God's judgment. 1. The lake of Sodom, 2*. and Lot's wife's
pillar. The one, the punishment of resolute sin ; the other,
of faint virtue. For the Sodomites are an example of impe-
nitent wilful sinners; and Lot's wife of imperseverant and
relapsing righteous persons.

Both these are in it ; but Christ, of both these, taketh the

latter only. For two sorts of men there are, for which these

two items are to be fitted: 1. To those in state of sin that are

wrong, the lake of Sodom. 2. To those in state of grace

that are well, if so they can keep them, Lot's wife's pillar.

To the first in state of sin, Moses propoundeth " the vine of

Deu.82.d2. Sodom and grapes of Gomorrah," qu(B contacta cinerescunty

* that if ye but touch them turn to ashes.' To the other in

state of grace, Christ here, Lot^s wife's pillar. To the one

Jer. 8. 4. Jeremy crieth. Qui cecidity adjiciat ut resurgaU To the other

iCor.10.12. St. Paul ; Qui stat, videcU ne cadat Agar, that is departed

Gen.21.18. from Abraham's house with her face toward Egypt, the

Angel calleth to return, and not to persevere : Lot's wife, that

Gen.19.17. is gone out of Sodom, and in the right way to Zoar, the

Angel willeth to persevere and not to return. So that to

them this memento is by Christ directed, that being departed

from the errors of Ur are gone out from the sins of Sodom,

are entered into the profession of the truth, or into the course

of a virtuous life. So that, if we lay it to ourselves, we shall

lay it aright; that Lot's wife be our example, and that

we sprinkle ourselves with the salt of her pillar, ne putrescamus,

that we turn not again to folly, or fall away from our

own steadfastness. And, if it be meant to us, needful it is that

we receive it. A point no doubt of important consideration

and necessity, as well for religion to call on, as for our nature

to hear of. First, for religion : her glory it is no less to be

[Acts 21. able to shew antiquos Discipulos, "old professors," as Mnason

was, than daily to convert and make new proselytes. And

therefore, with Christ, we must not ever be dealing with

Uat.11.28, venite ad me; but sometimes too, with manete in me. That

Joh. 16. 4. hath his place — not ever with stimuli^ * goads' to incite men to,

but otherwhile with clavi, ^ nails' to fasten them in. For, as

nature hath thought requisite as well the breasts to bring up,

as the womb to bring forth ; and philosophy holdeth tueri of

Sermons preached in Lent. 63

no less regard than qwerere; and with the lawyers, habendum
is not the only thing, but tenendum needful too; and the
physician as careful of the regiment, and fearful of the recidi-
vation^, as of the disease and cure ; so Divinity is respective [} reiapfle]
to both — ^both to lay the groundwork surely, ne corruat, ^ that
it shake not' with Esay's nisi credideritis ; and to roof it isa. 7. 9.
carefully, ne perpluaty ^ that it rain not through' and rot the
principals, with Paul's si permanseris, alioquin excideris et tu. Rom. ii. ,

Needful then for religion, to call on this virtue ; and as for
religion to call on, so for our nature to be called on. Wherein,
as there is teneUum quid, ^^ a tender part" not able to endure
the cross, for which we need the virtue of patience ; so is
there also a^nopov t&, 'a flitting humour,' not able to endure
the tediousness of any thing long ; for which we no less need
the virtue of perseverance. The Prophet, in the seventy-
eighth Psalm, saith, our nature is as a bow, which^ when it is Pb. 78. 67.
bent to his full, except it be followed bard till it be sure and
fast, starts back again, and is as far off as ever it was. The
Apostle compareth it to ^^ flesh,'* as it is^ which will sine sale Rom.7.18.
putrescerey and if it be not corned, of itself bringeth forth
corruption. And to help this our evil inclination forward,
there be in all ages dangerous examples to draw us on. The
IsraeUtes, after they had passed the Bed Sea and all the
perils of the desart, and were now come even to the borders
of Canaan, even there say, Bene nobis erat in j^gypto, " We Ex. 16. 8.
were better in Egypt ;" " let us make a captain and return ^' ^^' ^^*
thither." The Romans, in the New, at the first so glorious
professors that St Paul saith, ^^ All the world spake of their Rom. i. 8.
£uth ;" after, when trouble arose, and St. Paul was called
caram, of the same Romans he saith. Nemo mihi adfuity sed 2Tim.4. 16.
amnes deseruerunty ^'None stood by me, all shrunk away."
And in these dangerous days of ours, the falling away quite
of divers, and some such as have said of themselves with
Peter, JStsi omnesy non ego; and others have said of them, Etsi Mat. 26. 33.
mnnesy non ille. The declining of others, which, as Daniel's Dan; 2. 32,
image, decay by degrees ; from a head of fine gold fall to a ^'
silver breast, and from thence to loins of brass, and thence to
legs of iron, and last to feet of clay; the wavering and amaze
of others that stand in the plain, with Lot^s wife, looking
about, and cannot tell whether to go forward to little^Zoar

64 Sermons preached in Lent*

s E R M. or back again to the ease of Sodom ; shew plainly that Lot's

'- — wife is forgotten, and this is a needful memento^ *^ Remember

Lot*s wife/' If then it be ours, and so nearly concern us, let
us see, quantum valent hce quinque st/llab<B,

Thedi- I. First, Christ sending our memory to a story past; of

^T the use of remembering stories in general.

II. IL Secondly, Of this particular of Lot's wife, and the points

to be remembered in it.
IIL III. Thirdly, How to apply those points, that, as St. Au-

^^in^^ gustine saith, condiant nos, ut sal statues sit nobis condimentum

76(76). 12.] ijitcB^ ( that the salt of this pillar may be the season of our
lives.'
I. The Prophet Esay doth call us that stand in this place, the

8toriM?n^ Lord^s remembrancers; as to God for the people by the office

f«L*62l'6. ^^ prayers, so from God to the people by the office of preach-
ing. In which office of preaching, we are employed as much
about recognoscBy as about cognosce; as much in calling to
their minds the things they know and have forgot, as in teach-
ing them the things they know not, or never learnt. The
things are many we have commission to put men in mind of.
Some touching themselves: for it is many times too true
which the philosopher saith ; Nihil tam longe abest a nobis quam
ipsi nos, ^ Nothing is so far from our minds, as we ourselves.^

Heb. 2. 1. For naturally, as saith the Apostle, we do irapappveiv, "leak
and run out;^' and when we have looked in the glass, we

Jas. 1. 23, straight "forget our fashion again. ^' Therefore we have in
charge to put men in mind of many things, and to call upon

Job 10. 9. them with divers mementos. Memento quia sicut lutum tu,

Job 7. 7. " remember the baseness of our mould what it is." Memento quia
vita ventus, "remember the frailness of our life how short it is."

Etc 11. 8. Memento tenebrosi temporis, " remember the days of darkness are
coming," and they be many. All which we know well enough,
and yet need to be put in mind of them.

But the storehouse, and the very life of memory, is the
history of time ; and a special charge have we, all along the
Scriptures, to call upon men to look to that For all our
wisdom consisting either in experience or memory — experi-
ence of our own, or memory of others, our days are so short.

Job 8. 9. that our experience can be but slender ; tantum hesterni sumusy
saith Job, and our own time cannot afford us observations

Sermons preached in Lent. 65

enough for so maqy cases as we need direction in. Needs
must wo then, as he here adviseth, interrogare generationem Job 8. s.
pristinam, ** ask the former age," what they did in like case ;
search the records of former times, wherein our cases we shall
be able to match, and to pattern them all. Solomon saith
excellently. Quid est qttod Juitf Quod Juturum est, ** What Ecc i. 9.
is that that hath been? That that shall be." And back
again. What is that that shall be ? That that hath been. Ht
mhU no^mm est sub sole, ^^and there is nothing under the sun"
of which \% Oiay be said. It is new, but it hath been already in
the former generations. So that it is but turning the wheel,
and setting before us some case of antiquity which may
sample ours, and either remembering to follow it if it fell
out well, or eschew it if the success were thereafter. For
example. By Abimelech's story King David reprove th his
captains for pursuing the enemy too near the wall, seeing 2 Sam. ii.
Abimelech miscarried by like adventure ; and so maketh use
of remembering Abimelech. And by David's example, that,
in want of all other bread, refused not the shew-bread, Christ Mark 2. 25.
our Saviour defendeth His Disciples in like distress, and
sheweth that, upon such extremity, •neeessitas doth even
legem Legi dicere^ ^ give a law even to the Law itself.'

Seven several times we are called upon to do it: 1. itfif- Deu. 82. 7.
mento dierum antiqtiorumy saith Moses. 2. Recordamini prioris isa. 46. 9.
Seculi — liay. 3. State super vias antiquas — Jeremy. 4. /n- jer. 6. 16.
vestiga patrum memoriam — Job. 5. Exemplum sumite Pro- Job ^- ^«

. , Jas. 6. 10.

phetas — James. 6. Bememoramini dies priscos — Paul. 7. Re- ^^^,^1*032,
member Lot's wife — Christ here ; that is, to lay odr actions to
those we find there, and of like doings to look for like ends.
So read stories pa^, as we make not ourselves matter for
story to come^

Now of and among them all, our Saviour Christ after a 11.
special m^mer oommendeth unto us this of liot's wife. Of Lot*s wife.
which tbu3 much we may say, that it is the only one story,
wbi^ of all the stories of the Old Testament He maketh His
choice of^ to put in His memento ; which He would have them
which have forgotten to remember, and those that remember
never to forget. Oft to repair to this story, and to fetch salt
from thia pillar : that they lose not that they have done, and
so peridi in the reeidivation of Lot's wife.

p

66 Sermons preached in Lent

S E R H. Then to descend into the particulars. I find in stories two
— — — sorts of memento: 1. Memento et fac, * remember to follow;^
2. Memento et fuge^ * remember to fly the like/ Mary
Magdalene's ointment^ an example of one ; Lot's wife's salt-
stone^ an example of the other. Or to keep us to this story,
Lot looked not back^ till he came safe to Zoar: memento
et fac» Lot^s wife did, and died for it : memento etfuge.

The verse before sheweth, why Christ laid the memento
upon her. Mi) Kara^droyy fif) hrtarpe^dro), that we should
not turn or return back, as she did; that we should not
follow her^ but when we come at this pillar, turn at it and
take another way. That is, we should '* remember Lot's
wife," but follow Lot ; remember her, but follow him.

Now in either of both mementos, to follow, or to fly,
we alway enquire of two points, and so here, 1. quid fecity
2. quid passa est; what they did whose story we read,
and how they sped — the fact and the effect The fact, vice
or virtue ; the effect, reward or punishment.

Both which concerning this unfortunate woman we find
Geii.19.26. set down in one verse, in the nineteenth of Genesis, what she
did ; that " she drew back," or " looked back" — this was her
sin. The effect, that she was turned into a salt stone — this
was her punishment And these two are the two memo-
randums concerning her to be remembered. First, of her
fault.
1. The Angel had given charge to Lot and his company.

Her fault, j^^ ^he seventeenth of that chapter, " Scape for thy life, stay
not iu the plain, look not once behind thee lest thou perish."
'* Scape for thy life" — She trifled for all that as if no peril were.
" Stay not in the plain,'' yet stayed she behind. ** Look not
back lest thou die." She would and did look back, to die for
it. So that she did all that she was forbid, and regarded
none of the AngePs words, but despised the counsel of God
against her own soul. This was her sin, the sin of dis-
obedience, but consisteth of sundry degrees by which she
fell, needful all to be remembered.
1. Waver- 1. The first was : that she did not severe custodire mandatum
"*^' Dei, * strictly keep her to the AngePs charge,' but dallied with

it, and regarded it by halves ; that is, say what he would, she
might use the matter as she would; go, or stay and look

Sermons preached in Lent. 67

about as she list Such light regard is like enough to have
grown of a wandering distrust; lest haply, she had left
Sodom in vain, and the Angel feared them with that which
never should be. The sun rose so clear and it was so goodly
a morning, she repented she came away. Reckoning her
sons-in-law more wise in staying still, than Lot and herself
in so unwisely departing. Which is the sin of unbelief,
the bane both of constancy and perseverance. Constancy in
the purpose of our mind, and perseverance in the tenor of
our life.

2. From this grew the second, That she began to tire and 2.Faintiiig.
draw behind, and kept not pace with Lot and the Angels.

An evil sign. For ever fainting is next step to forsaking ;
and segudfatur a longe^ a preparative to a giving clean over.
Occasionem qucBrity saith Solomon, qui vult discedere ab amicoy Pro. 18. i.
'^ he that hath not list to follow, will pick some quarrel or
other to be cast behind."

3. This tiring, had it grown of weakness or weariness or 3. Looking
want of breath, might have been borne with ; but it came of ^^
another cause, which is the third degree. It was, saith the

text, at least to look back, and to cast her eye to the place
her soul longed after. Which sheweth, that the love of Sodom
sticked in her still; that though her feet were come from
thence, her heart stayed there behind ; and that in look and
thought she returned thither, whither in body she might not ;
but possibly would in body too, if as Nineveh did, so Sodom
had still remained.

4. Looking back might proceed of divers causes : so might 4. Pre.
this of hers, but that Christ^s application directs us. The s^^om to
verse before saith, " Somewhat in the house ;" something left ^^^'
behind affected her, of which He giveth us warning. She

grew weary of trouble, and of shifting so oft. From Ur to
Haran ; thence,, to Canaan ; thence, to Egypt ; thence, to
Canaan again ; then to Sodom, and now to Zoar ; and that,
in her old days, when she would fainest have been at rest.
Kierefore, in this wearisome conceit of new trouble now to
begin, and withal remembering the convenient seat she had
in Sodom, she even desired to die by her flesh-pots, and to be
buried in ^^ the graves of lust ;" wished them at Zoar that would, [See Num.
and herself at Sodom again, desiring rather to end her life ^^' ^^ i

f2 *

68 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R &I. with ease in that stately city, than to remove, and be safe

: — perhaps, and perhaps not, in the desolate mountains. And

this was the sin of restiness of soul, which affected her eyes
and knees, and was the cause of all the former. When men
weary of a good course which long they have holden, for a
little ease or wealth, or I wot not what other secular respect,
fall away in the end ; so losing the praise and fruit of their
former perseverance, and relapsing into the danger and de-
struction, from which they had so near escaped.

Behold, these were the sins of Lot's wife, a wavering of
mind, slow steps, the convulsion of her neck : all these caused
her weariness and fear of new trouble — she preferred Sodom's
ease before Zoar's safety. " Remember Lot's wife."
Theaggra- This was her sin ; and this her sin was in her made much
htf fioi. more heinous by a double circumstance, well worth the re-
membering; as ever weighty circumstances are matter of
special regard, in a story specially. 1. One, that she fell
after she had stood long. 2. The other, that she fell even
then, when God by all means offered her safety, and so
[Jonah2.8.1 ** forsook her own mercy."

1. After so Touching the first. These "winter brooks," as Job termeth
(^stan -fljjjjng^ desultory. Christians, if they dry; these "summer
Job 6. 16. fruits," as Amos, if they putrify ; these " morning clouds," as
1.2. Hosea, if they scatter; these "shallow rooted corn," if they

Mat!r3^20 ^^^®r *^^ come to nothing, it is the less grief. No man
Exod. 8. 8. looked for other. Pharaoh with his fits, that at every plague
sent upon him is godly on a sudden, and " O pray for me
now ;" and when it is gone, as profane as ever he was, be-
ginning nine times, and nine times breaking ofiT again ; — ^he
moves not much. To go farther. Saul that for two years,
Judas that for three, Nero that for five kept well, and then
fell away, though it be much yet may it be borne. But this
woman had continued now thirty years, for so they reckon
from Abraham's going out of Ur to the destruction of Sodom.
This, this, is the grief, that she should persist all this time, and
after all this time lall away. The rather, if we consider yet
farther, that not only she continued many years, but sustained
many things in her continuance, as being companion of
Abraham and Lot in their exile» their travel, and all their
afflictioin. This is the grief, that after all these storms in the

Sermons preached in Lent. 69

broad sea well passed^ she should in this pitiful manner be
wrecked in the haven. And when she had been in Egypt,
and not poisoned with the superstitions of Egypt ; when lived
in Sodom, and not defiled with the sins of Sodom ; not fidlen
away for the famine of Canaan, nor taken harm by the fulness
of the city of the plain ; afler all this, she should lose the fruit
of all this, and do and suffer so many things all in vain ; —
this is the first. Remember it

The second is no whit inferior; that at that instant she 2. Now,
woefully perished, when God's special favour was profiered to means of
preserve her ; and that when of all other times she had means "**"^°8-
and cause to stand, then of all other times she fell away.
Many were the mercies she found and felt at God's hand by
this very title, that she was Lot's wife. For by it she was in-
corporated into the house and family, and made partaker of
the blessings of the faithful Abraham. It was a mercy to be
delivered from the errors of Ur j a mercy, to be kept safe in
Egypt ; a mercy, to be preserved from the sin of Sodom ; a
mercy, to be delivered from the captivity of the five Kings ;
and this the last and greatest mercy, that she was sought to
be delivered from the perishing of the five cities. This no
doubt doth mightily aggravate the ofience, that, so many
ways before remembered by God in trouble, she so coldly re-
membered Him ; and that now presently, being ofiered grace,
she knoweth not the day of her visitation ; but being brought
out of Sodom, and warned of the danger that might ensue,
having the Angels to go before her. Lot to bear her company,
her daughters to attend her, and being now at the entrance
of Zoar, the haven of her rest; this very time, place, and
presence, she maketh choice of to perish in, and to cast away
that which God would have saved; in respect of herself,
desperately ; of the Angels, contemptuously ; of her husband
and daughters, scandalously ; of God and His favours, un-
thankfully ; forsaking her own mercy, and perishing in the
sin of wilful defection.

"Remember Lot's wife," and these two; 1. That she
" looked back," afler so long time, and so many sufferings.
2. That she " looked back," after so many, so merciful, and
so mighty protections. And remember this withal. That she
" looked back" only, and went not back ; would, it may be.

70 Sermons preached in Lent

S £ R M. but that it was all on fire. But, whether she would or no, of -

IV. ...
'- — whether we do or no, this fore thinking ourselves we be gone

out, this faint proceeding, this staying in the plain, this con-
vulsion of the neck, and writhing of the eyes back ; this irreso-
lute wavering, whetherwe should choose either bodily pleasures
in perishing Sodom, or the safety of our souls in little Zoar,
was her sin ; and this is the sin of so many as stand as she i
stood, and look as she looked, though they go not back ; but
if they go back too, they shall justify her, and heap upon
themselves a more heavy condemnation. So much for the
sin, which we should remember to avoid.

2. Her Now for her punishment, which we must remember to

Z^t escape.

This relapse in this manner, that the world might know it
to be a sin highly displeasing His Majesty, God hath not only
marked it for a sin, but salted it too, that it might never be
forgotten.

Death. The wages and punishment of this sin of hers was it, which

Rom. 6. 23. is " the wages of all sin," that is, " death." Death in her sure
worthily, that refused life with so easy conditions, as the hold-
ing of her head still, and would needs look back and die.

The sound of death is fearful, what death soever ; yet it is
made more fearful four ways, which all be in this of hers.

1. Sudden. 1. We desirc to die with respite : and sudden death we

fear, and pray against. Her death was sudden ; — back she
looked, and never looked forward more. It was her last look.

2. In the 2. We dcsirc to have remorse of sin ere we be taken away ;

and death, in the very act of sin, is most dangerous. Her

death was so. She died in the very convulsion; she died

with her face to Sodom.

8. Unusual. 3. We would die ^Uhe common death of mankind, and be

[See Num. visited after the visitation of other men;" and an unusual

16. 29.1 .

Strange death is full of terror. Hers was so. God's own
hand from Heaven, by a strange and fearful visitation.
4. Without 4. Our wish is to die, and to be buried, and not to remain a

DuriaL

spectacle above ground, which nature abhorreth. She so died
as she remained a spectacle of God's wrath, and a by-word to
posterity, and as many as passed by. For until Christ's time,
and after, this monument was still extant, and remained un-
defaced so many hundred years. Josephus, a writer of good

Sermons preached in Lent. 71

account, which lived after this, saith, ^loTOfnf/ca aM)v^ eri yap
Koi wv Bui/iei^L I I myself have seen and beholden it, for it [Joseph.
stands to be seen to this day.' A reed she was; a pillar she iib.i.cii.]
is, which she seemed to be but was not. She was melting
water; she is congealed to salt Thus have we both her
fault and punishment. Let us remember both ; to shun the
fault, that the penalty light not on us.

Now this pillar was erected, and this verdure given it, for III.
our sakes. For, among the many wajs that the wisdom of fh>mthis.
God useth to dispose of the sin of man, and out of evil
to draw good, this is one and a chief one, that He suffereth
not their evil examples to vanish as a shadow, but maketh
them to stand as pillars for ages to come, with the heathen
man's inscription, '£9 ifJi^ ri^ opeaw evae^rj^ €OT€o, * Look on [Herodot
me, and learn by me to serve God better.' I4i.]

And an high benefit it is for us, that He not only
embalmeth the memory of the just for our imitation, but also
powdereth and maketh brine of the evil for our admonition ;
that as a scent from Mary Magdalene's ointment, so a relish
from Lot's wife's pillar, should remain to all posterity.

Profane persons, in their perishing, God could dash to
pieces, and root out their remembrance from ofi^ the earth. He
doth not, but suffereth their quarters, as it were, to be set up in
stories, ut pcma impii sit eruditiojusti^ ^that their punishment
may be our advertisement.' Poureth not out their blood, nor
casts it away, but saves it for a bath, ut lavet Justus pedes Ps. 58. 10.
in sanguine peccatoris, ^' that the righteous may wash their
footsteps in the blood of the ungodly;'^ that ^^^11," even Rom. a 28.
the ruin of the wicked, ** may cooperate to the good of them
that fear God." This woman, in her inconstancy, could He
have sunk into the earth, or blown up as saltpetre, that
no remembrance should have remained of her. He doth not,
but for us and for our sakes He erecteth a pillar : and not a
pillar only to point and gaze at, but a " pillar or rock of salt,"
whence we may and must fetch wherewith to season whatso-
ever is unsavoury in our lives. And this, this, is the life and
soul of memory ; this is wisdom — the art of extracting salt out
of the wicked, triacle* out of vipers, our own happiness out of [* *.*•"?,
aliena pericula; and to make those that were unprofitable
to themselves, profitable to us. For sure, though Lot's wife

72 Sermons preached in Lent.

S £ R M. were evil, her Bait is good. Let us Bee then how to make h^
evil our good j see if we can draw any savoury thing from thi§

example.

1. Perse- 1. That which we should draw outj is perseverance, Muria
verance. ^^y/j^^^^ ^ Gregory callelh it, *the preserver of virtues,'

without which, as summer fruits, they will perish and putriQr ;

the salt of the covenant, without which the flesh of out sacri*

fice will take wind and corrupt. But St. Augustine better,

Regina virtutumy *the Queen of virtues;' for that, however

the rest run and strive and do masteries, yet perseverantia soh

P a Bern. coTonatur \ ^ perseverance is the only crowned virtue.'

wTfin. rt' 2- N^^ perseverance we. shall attain, if we can possess our

109. circ. gonig ^Jth the due care, and rid them of security. Of Lot's

2. Care, wife's seCurity, as of water, was this salt here made. And, ii

security, as water, do but touch it, it melts away ptesenlly.
But care will make us fix our eye, and gather up our
Phil. 3. 13. feet, and " forgetting that which is behitad,^' tendere in
anteriaray "to follow hard toward the prize of our high
calling."

3. Fear. 3. And> to avoid security, and to breed in us due care,
rvid. s. St. Bernard saith, * Fear will do it.' Vis in timore secnrus esse ?
doiT's-S. securitatem time; 'the only way to be secure in fear, is tofeair
Serm.init.] security.' St. Paul had given the same counisel before, that
Rom. 11. to preserve si permanseris. no better advice tbail noli ahum

20-22. » ^.

sapere^ sea ttme,

Coneider- Now, from her story these considerations are yielded, each

of her one as an handful of salt to keep us^ and to make us keep^

^^^ J First, that we see, as of Christ's twelve which He had

sorted and selected from the rest, one miscarried t et iltnm

gregem non timuit lupus inttofrey *and that the wolf feared

hot to seize, no, not upon that flock :' and as of Noah^ eight

that were saved from the flood, one fell away too ; so, that of

Lot's four here, and but four in all, all came not to Zoar— one

came short So that of twelve, of eight, of four 5 yea, a little

Lu. 17. 36. after, of two, one is refused ; that we may remember, few

there be that scape from Sodom in the AngeFs company ; and

of those, few though they be, all are not safe neither. Who

would not fear, if one may perish in the company of Angels !

2. Secondly, that as one miscarrieth, so not every one,

but one that had continued so long, atrd suffered so many

I

Sermons preached in Leni^ 73

'^ things^ and after all this continuance, and all these sufferings,
fiills from her estate, and turns all out and in; and by
:■ the incoDstancj of one hour fnaketh void the perseverance of
90 many years, and as Ezekiel saith, " In the day they turn Ezek. is.
away to iniquity, all the former righteousness they have done,
Aall not be remembered/'

Thirdly, that as she perisheth, so at the same time that 8.
Sodom ; she by it, and it by her. That one end cometh to
the rintier without repentance, and to the just without perse-
verance. One end to the abomination of Sodom, and to the
recidivation of Lot's wife. Et non egredientesy et egredientes
mpieientes; *they that go not out of her perish, and they
that go out of her perish too if they look back.' Locus
Asphaltites is a monument of the one ; Lot^s wife's salt-stone
a memorial of the other.

Lastly, that as one perisheth, and that such an one, so that 4.
she perisheth at the gates, even hard at the entry of Zoar ;
which of all other is most fearful — so near her safety, so hard
at the gates of her deliverance; remember, that near to
Zoar gates there stands a salt-stone.

These very thoughts, what her case was these four ways,
and what ours may be who are no better than she was, will
search us like salt, and teach us, that as, if we remember what

(we have been, we may, saith St. Bernard, eruhescere; so,
if we remember what we may be, we may contremiscere ; that
; we see our beginnings, but see not our ending; we see our
stadium, not our dolichum. And that, as we have great need
! to pray with the prophet> " Thou hast taught me from my Ps. 7i. is.
youth up until now — forsake me not in mine old age, now
when I am grey-headed;^' so we had need stir up our
care of continuing, seeing we see it is nothing to begin
except we continue; nor to continue, except we do it to
> the end.

Semember, we make not light account of the Angel's
ierva animam tuam; blessing ourselves in our hearts, and
saying, non ^t tibi hoc; we shall come safe, go we never Mat. I6.22.
so soft, Zoar will not run away.

Remember, we be not weary to go whither God would
have us — not to Zoar, though a litle one, if our soul may
there live; and never buy the ease of our body, with the

74 ' Sermons preached in Lent.

SERM. hazard of our soul, or a few days of vanity with the loss

'- — of eternity. \

Remember, we slack not our pace, nor stand still on the j
plain. For if we stand still, by still standing we are meet
to be made a pillar, even to stand still, and never to remove. \
Remember, we look not back, either with her on the vain

Joh.21.20. delights of Sodom left; or with Peter on St. John behind us, i
to say, Domine^ Quid iste? both will make us forget our

Lu. 9. 62. following. " None that casteth his eye the other way," is ]
€v0€To^9 *'meet" as he should be, "meet for the Kingdom
of God."

But specially remember we leave not our heart behind us, :
but that we take that with us, when we go out of Sodom ; for
if that stay, it will stay the feet, and writhe the eye, and
neither the one nor the other will do their duty. Remember,
that our heart wander not, that our heart long not. This
care, if it be fervent, will bring us perseverance.

Out of her Now, that we may the better learn somewhat out of

1^'^ ~ her punishment too ; let us remember also, that as to her, so
to us, God may send some unusual visitation, and take us
suddenly away, and in the act of sin too.

Remember the danger and damage ; it is no less matter
we are about, than perdet animam. Which if we do, we frus-
trate and forfeit all the fruit of our former well-continued
course ; all we have done is vain. Yea, all that Christ hath
done for us is in vain ; Whose pains and sufferings we ought
specially to tender, knowing that supra omnem laborem labor
irritusy * no labour to lost labour ;' and Christ then hath lost
His labour for us.

Gal. 3. 3. Remember the folly ; that " beginning in the Spirit" we
'* end in the flesh ;" turning our backs to Zoar, we turn our
face to Sodom ; joining to a head of fine gold feet of clay,
and to a precious foundation a covering of thatch.

Remember the disgrace ; that we shall lose our credit and
account while we live, and shall hear that of Christ, Hie

Mat 11. 7. homo ; and that other. Quid existis in desertum videre ? " A reed
shaken with the wind."

Remember the scandal ; that, falling ourselves, we shall be
a block for to make others fall ; a sin no lighter, nor less, nor

Mat 18. 6. lighter than a mill-stone.

(

[

Sermons preached in Lent. 76

Remember the infamy; that we shall leave our memory
remaning in stories, among Lot's wife, and Job's wife, Demas
and Ecebolius, and the number of relapsed, there to stand to
be pointed at, no less than this heap of salt
t Remember the judgment that is upon them after their
idapse, though they live, that they do even with her here
obriffescere, ^wax hard and numb,' and serve others for a caveat,
wholly unprofitable for themselves.

Remember the difficulty of reclaiming to good; — "seven
eiol spirits^' entering instead of one, that their "last state is Mat 12. 45.
worse than the first."

And lastly. Remember that we shall justify Sodom by so
doing, and her fi*ozen sin shall condemn our melting virtue.
For they in the wilfulness of their wickedness persisted till
fire from Heaven consumed them; and they being thus
obdurate in sin, ought not she, and we much more, to be
constant in virtue? And if the drunkard hold out till he
have lost his eyes, the unclean person till he have wasted
his loins, the contentious till he have consumed his wealth,
Q^^s pudor quod infelix populus Dei non habet tantam in bono
perseveraniiam, quantam nudi in malo ! ' What shame is it, that
God's unhappy people should not be as constant in virtue, as
these miscreants have been, and be in vice ! '

Each of these by itself, all these put together will make a
full memento, which if she had remembered, she had been a
pillar of light in Heaven, not of salt in earth. It is too late
for her — we in due time yet may remember it.

And when we have remembered these, remember Christ
too that gave the memento ; that He calleth Himself Alpha Bev. i 8.
and Omega — not only Alpha for His happy beginning, but
Omega for His thrice happy ending. For that He left us not,
nor gave over the work of our redemption, till He brought it
to consummatum est. And that on our part, summa religionis
est imitari Quern colts, * the highest act of religion, is for the
Christian to conform himself, not to Lot's wife, but to Christ,
Whose name he weareth.' And though verv^ amor non sumit
vires de spe, ^ true love indeed receiveth no manner strength
from hope,' but, though it hope for nothing, loveth never-
theless ; yet to quicken our love, which oft is but faint, and
for a full memento, remember the reward. Remember how

76 Sermons preached in Lent.

S £ R M. Christ will remember us for it ; which shall not be the wages
of an hireling, or lease-wise for time^ and term of jear^
but al&ve^ auovtavy eternity itself, never to expire, end, or f
determine, but to last and endure for ever and ever. j

Ezek. 9.4 But this reward, saith Ezekiel, is for those, whose foreheads ^
are marked with Tau, which, as Omega in Greek, is the last '
letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and the mark o{ consummattm •
est among them ; they only shall escape the wrath to come. -
And this crown is laid up for them, not of whom it may be '

Gal. 5. 7. said, currebatis bency "ye did run well ;'* but for those that can -

2 Tim. 4. 7. say with St. Paul, cursum consummaviy "I have finished my ^
course well."

And, thanks be to God, we have not hitherto wanted this ■
salt, but remembered Lot's wife well. So that this exhorta- -
tion, because we have prevented and done that which it
calleth for, changeth his nature and becometh a commenda-
tion, as all others do. A commendation I say; yet not so
much of the people, whose only felicity is to serve and be
subject to one that is constant — ^for otherwise we know how
wavering a thing the multitude is — as for the Prince, whose
constant standing giveth strength to many a week knee other-
wise. And blessed be God and the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that we stand in the presence of such a Prince,
who hath ever accounted of perseverance, not only as of
Regina virtutuniy ^ the Queen of virtues,' but as of virtus Regi-
naruvfiy ^ the virtue of a Queen.' Who, like Zerubbabel, first
by princely magnanimity laid the corner-stone in a trouble-
some time; and since, by heroical constancy, through
many both alluring proffers and threatening dangers, hath
brought forth the Head-stone also with the Prophet's acclama-

[Zech.4.7.] tion, ** Gracc, grace, unto it" — Grace, for so happy a begin-
ning, and Grace for so thrice happy an ending. No terrors,
no enticement, no care of her safety hath removed her from
her steadfastness ; but with a fixed eye, with straight steps, ,
with a resolute mind, hath entered herself, and brought us
into Zoar. It is a little one, but therein our souls shall live ;
and we are in safety, all the cities of the plain being in com-
bustion round about us. Of whom it shall be remembered, to
her high praise, not only that of the Heathen, Illaque virgo viri;

2 chron. but that of David, that all her days she served God "with a j

Sermons preached in Lent. 77

covenant of salt," and with her Israel^ from the first day until

now. And of this be we persuaded, that '* He which began [Phii.1.7.]

this good work in her, will perform it unto the day of Jesus

Christ," to her everlasting praise, comfort, and joy, and in her

to the comfort, joy, and happiness of us all.

Yet it is not needless, but right requisite, that we which are
the Lord's remembrancers put you in mind, that as perse-
Yerance is the queen of virtues, quia ea sola coronatur ; so is it
also, quia Satanas ei soli insidiatur, ^ for that all Satan's malice, [S. Ber-
andall his practices are against it.' The more careful need we to Epist. 82.
be, to carry in our eye this example. Which God grant we ^'^
may, and that our hearts may seriously regard, and our
memories carefully keep it, Ut hcec columna fulciat nos, et hie
ud condiat noSy ^ that this pillar may prop our weakness, and
this salt season our sacrifice,' that it may be remembered, and
accepted, and rewarded in the day of the Lord ! Which, &c.

)<

A SERMON

PBBACHBO IN

THE COURT AT RICHMOND,

ON TUE8DAT, BBINQ THE FIFTH OF MABCH, A.D. MDXCVI.

Lure xvi. 25 »

Sony remember that tkou, in thy life time, receivedst thy pleasure
{or, good things ;) and likewise Lazarus pains : Now therefore
is he comfortedy and thou art tormented.

Fill, recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua, et Lazarus similiter
mala : nunc autem hie consolatur, tu vero cruciaris,

[Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things,
and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. Engl. Trans.]

SERM. This Scripture hath the name given it in the very first
— — — words ; Recordare Jili, " Son, remember :*^ — ^it is a remem-
brance.

There be many sermons of remembrance here on earth;

this is one from Heaven, from the mouth of Abraham. Not

now on earth but in Heaven, and from thence beholding,

iCor.18.12. << not in a glass or dark speech,'^ but intuitive, that which he

Joh. 19.35. telleth us ; and *^ He that saw it bare witness, and His witness

is true/'

Which may somewhat move attention ; or if that will not,
let me add farther, That it is such a remembrance, that it
toucheth our estate in everlasting life ; that is, the well or
evil hearing of this recordare is as much as our eternal life is
worth. For we find both in it. That our comfort or torment
eternal — comfort in Abraham's bosom, torment in the fire of
hell— depend upon it; and therefore as much as we regard
them, we are to regard it

I

Sermons preached in Lent. 79

This remembrance is directed to a son of Abraham's, not
BO much for him, as for the rest. For it is to be feared, that
both the sons of Abraham and the daughters of Sarah forget
this point overmuch; and many of them, with this party
here to whom it is spoken, never remember it till it be too
late.

To Abraham's sons then, all and every one. But specially
such of his sons as presently are in the state that this son here
sometime was, of whom it is said, "He had received good
things in his life.'' By virtue whereof, I find, this recordare
will reach home to us ; for that, we are within the compass of
this recepisti. For truly the sum of our receipt hath been
great, no nation's so great ; and our recordare little, I will not
say how little, but sure too little for that we have received.

Now albeit it be all our case, for we all have received, yet
not all our case alike, but of some more than other. For,
some have received in far more plentiful manner than other
some, and they therefore more deeply interested in it. And
look, who among us have received most, them it most con-
cemeth ; and they of all other most need to look to it.

If you ask. Why they more than others? For that, besides
the duty, to whom a great recepisti is given, of them a great
recordare will be required. The danger also helps them for-
ward. For so it oft happeneth unhappily ; that whereas re-
cepisti is made, and so may well be, a motive for us to re-
member; so cross is our nature, none is so great an enemy
to recordare as it. Our great receiving is oft occasion of our
little remembering. And as a full diet in the vessels of our
body, so a plenteous receipt breeds stoppings in the mind and
memory, and the vital parts of our soul.

We have hereof a lively example before our eyes ; and
such an one, as if it move us not, I know not what will. A
receipt for memories that suffer obstructions.

Our Saviour Christ unlocketh hell-gates to let us see it.
In discovering what sighs and what sufferings are in the other
world. He sheweth us one lying in them, to whom Abraham
objecteth, that this frank receiving had marred his memory.
And as He sheweth us his fault, so withal what came to him
for it, that strange and fearful consequent; "Now there-
fore thou art tormented"

80 Sermons preached in Lent

SERM. This example is told bjr our Saviour, in the fourteenth
'- — verse, to other rich men, and troubled with the same lethargy^

Who when He put them in mind. It would not be amiss

Lu. 16. 9. while they were here, " to make them friends of that they

had received," that when this failed them, as fail them it

must, that " might receive them into everlasting tabernacles;"

forgat themselves so far, as they derided His counsel, not

li^iivKrli' in words, but per mycterismum. Which maketh Him fall from'

olX parables to a plain story, for so it is holden by the best inter-

^- v.] preters, both old and lat^r ; and from everlasting tabernacles

to everlasting torments; that howsoever they regarded not

His recordare on the earth, they had best give better ear to

Abraham's from Heaven.

It is His intent in reporting of it, that our remembering of

[Vid. S. it should keep us from it Non vult mortem^ et minatur mor-

de 2^ar. ^^^ ^^ mittat in mortem^ saith Chrysostom : * He would not

con* 3.] jj^yg ^g jjn^ jjjg|. place, yet He telleth us of that place, to the

end we never come in that place.'

Yea it is Abraham's desire too we should not be overtaken,
but think of it in time ; and prevent it before it prevent us.
And therefore he lifteth up his voice, and crieth out of
Heaven, Recordare fili.

And not only Abraham^ but he that was in the place itself

and best knew the terror because he felt it — felt that in it as

he heartily wisheth and instantly sueth that they whom he

loveth or any way wisheth well to, may some way take wam-

Lu. 16. ing, Ne et ipsi venianty " That they also come not into that

' * place of torments."

This use Christ on earth, Abraham from Heaven, and he
out of hell, wish we may have of it And we, I trust, will
wish ourselves no worse than they ; and therefore look to our
recordare, carry it in mind, and (in recordare there is cor too)
take it to heart, and by both in time take order, Ne et ipsi
veniamus.
The The verse itself if we mark it well, is in figure and pro-

diviMon. portion an exact cross. For as a cross it consisteth of two bars
or beams so situate, as the one doth quarter the other. ^^ Thou
receivedst good things, and Lazarus received evil.'' These
two lie clean contrary, but meet both at the middle word,
" Now therefore ;" and there, by a new antithesis, cross each

Sermons preacfied in Lent 81

other: 6 S^ he that ** received evil, is comforted;" and av
S^ *Uhou that didst receive good, art tormented." And
to make it a perfect cross, it hath a title or inscription too
Kt over it ; and this it is, RecordareJiK, And sure next to
the cross of Christ, and the memory thereof, this cross of
Abraham's invention and exaltation is of all others most
efectaaL And I verily persuade myself, if we often would
fix it before our eyes, and well mark the inscription, it would
be a special preparation to our passover, meaning by our
pasBover our end, whereby pass we must ere long into
another state, either of misery or bliss; but whether of
misery or bliss, it will lie much in the use of this word
recardare.

First then, we will treat 1. of the cross; after, 2. ofi.
the title. "*

We have in the cross two bars; but with both we will
not meddle. For why should we deal with Lazarus ? This
place is not for him, nor he no room in this auditory. There-
fore waving his part, in this other of the rich man's, we have
two quarters, representing unto us two estates: 1. the upper
part or head, recepisti bona in vitd, his estate in this life ;

2. the nether or foot, Jam vero torqueris, his estate in the other.
Of these two : 1 . That two they are. 2. Which they be.

3. And how they be fastened or tenanted the one to the other
with the illative, " Now therefore."

To quarter out this cross. Two parts it stands of, which i.
two parts are two estates. 1. One past, 2. the other present ; cross.
the one in memory, the other in experience. Now both
memory and experience — memory of things past, and ex-
perience of things present — are both handmaids to provi-
dence, and serve to provide for things to come. And of all
points of providence, for that which is the highest point of all,
that our memory of it keep us from experience of this place,
this conclusion.

These two are set down: 1. the one estate, in the words i.
vitd tud : 2. the other in the words Jaw vero, " but now." The ^ of ^t^
former past with him, and yet present with us ; for we yet ^nt^®tate
*' receive." The latter present with him, but with us yet to invitA
come, or rather I trust never to come ; jam vero torqueris, puU.

1. The first is the life in esse, which we all now live;

G

82 Sermons preached in Lent,

8 £ B M. which^ though it be one and the same, yet is there in it
a sensible difference, pauper et dives obviaverunt, of some poor

^ V' • -J and some rich every day meeting each other.

2. But nemo dives semper dives; and again, nemo pauper
semper pauper. *They that be rich in it shall not ever
be rich, nor they that are poor, poor alway/ " It came to

Lu. 16. 22. pass," saith the Scripture, " that the beggar died." Mortuus
est etiam et dives, ^^ and the rich man," for all his riches, died
also. There ends the first estate.

3. But that end is no final end. For after vitd tud there is
a jam vero still, a second state in reversion to take place
when the first is expired. Our hearts misgive us of some
such estate ; and, as the heathen man said, they that put
it off with quis scit? * who can tell whether such estate be ?'
shall never be able to rid their minds of quid si ? ^ but what if
such a one be,' how then ? But to put us that be Christians
out of all doubt, our Saviour Christ by this story openeth us
a casement into the other life, and sheweth us whither we go
when we go hence.

1. First, that as in this life, though but one, yet there
are two diverse estates; so death, though it be but one
neither, hath two several passages ; and through it, as through
one and the same city gate, the honest subject walketh
abroad for his recreation, and the lewd malefactor is carried
out to his execution.

2. Two staties then there be after death, and these two
disjoined in place, dislike in condition ; both set down within
the verse; 1. one of comfort: 2. the other of torment.

3. And that both these take place Jam, 'presently.' For
immediately after his death, and while all his " five brethren"
yet lived, and ere any of them were dead, he was " in
his torments,^' and did not expect the general judgment, nor
was not deferred to the end of the world.

4. And to make it a complete cross, for so it is, as the poor
and rich meet here, so do they there also otherwhile ; and go
two contrary ways, every one to " his own place." Lazarus to
his bosom, the rich man to his gulf; and one's misery endeth
in rest, the other's " purple and fine linen" in a flame of fire.

rs chry- ^^^ stupendcB vices, saith Chrysostom, * Verily a strange
flost. de change, a change to be wondered at ;' to be wondered at and

cone 2.]

Sermons preached in Lent. 83

feared of those whom it may concern any manner of way,
and at any hand to be had in remembrance.

To apply these two to the party we have in hand, and to i.
begin with the first estate first Two things are in it set
down by him ; 1. the one in the word j€/i ; %. the other in the
word recepistL

Krst, That he was Abraham's son, and so of the religion i. FUi,
only true ; and one that, as himself saith of himself, had had
** Moses and the Prophets/' though tanquam nan habens, * as
though he had them not.' For little he used, and less he
r^arded them ; yet a professor he was.

Secondly, as by nature Abraham's son, so by condition or 2. ifece-
office, one of God's receivers. Receivers we are every one of ''"^
ns more or less, but yet in receipts there is a great latitude.
Great between her that received " two mites," and him that
received '^a thousand talents." Between them that receive
tegumenta only, ^ covering for their nakedness,' and them that
receive ornamental ^rich attire' also, for comeliness; and
again, that receive aUmenta, * food for emptiness,^ and oblecta-
menta, * delicious fair for daintiness.' Now he was not of the
petty, but of the main receipt. It is said ; " he received good
diings," and it is told what these good things were — purple of
the fairest, and linen of the finest ; and quotidie splendide,
"every day a double feast." Which one thing, though there
were nothing else, asketh a great receipt alone. Here ^^ rich,"
in this Ufe; and who would not sue to succeed him in
it? One would think this wood would make no cross, nor
these premises such a '^ now therefore." But to him that was
thus and had thus, all this plenty, all this pleasure, post tan-
tas diviticLSf post tantas deliciaSy to him is this spoken, ^' but
DOW thou art tormented." Which first estate, as it was rich,
so it was short ; therefore I make short with it to come to
cruciaris. Which, though in syllables it is shorter, yet it is in
substance, that piece to which he is fastened, in length of
continuance far beyond it.

Cruciaris is but one word, but much weisht lieth in it : 2.

- - . . 1. 1 1 1 J I • The nether

therefore it is not shghtly to be passed over, as being part of the
the special object of our recordare^ and the principal part of ^h^.
the cross indeed. Two ways our Saviour Christ expresseth ^^^^^^
it: 1. one while under the term ^aorai/09, which is * torture;'

o 2

84 Sermons preached in Lent

SERM. 2. another under the term oSvvrf, which is * anguish of the

— spirit ;' referring this to the inward pain, and that to the

outward passion. The soul being there subjected by God's
justice, to sensual pain, for subjecting itself willingly to
brutish sensuality in this life, it being a more noble and
celestial substance.

Of which pain St. Chrysostom noteth. That because many
of us can skill what torment the tongue hath in extremity of
a burning ague, and what pain our hand feeleth when from
the hearth some spark lighteth on it; Christ chose to
express them in these two. Not but that they be incom-
parably greater than these, yea far above all we can speak or
think ; but that flesh and blood conceiveth but what it feeleth,
and must be spoken to as it may understand. And it is a
ground, that in terms here and elsewhere proportioned to our
conceit, torments are uttered far beyond all conceit : which,
labouring to avoid, we may, but labouring to express, we shall
never do it.

1. Yet to help them somewhat, we shall the more deeply
apprehend them if we do but compare them ; as we may, and
never go out of the, confines of our own verse.

With recepisHy first To consider this ; that his torment is
in the present tense, now upon him, cruciaris : His good, all
past and gone, recepisti, Mark, saith St. Augustine, of his
pleasure, omnia dicit de prceterito ; dives eraty vestiebaiury epula-
batury recepisti; * He was rich, did go, did fere, had received;
was, did, and had ; all past, and vanished away ;' all, like the
[iQne * counterpane of a lease, expired, and our Abraham likeneth it

part of a ^ . . , , « ,

pair of to wages, received and spent beforehand.

used for Secondly, If we lay together his torments, and bona tua in

*PMt?f '' ^^^' ^^^ ^® ^^^ ^^^> ^^y ^® ^^ ^ divers scantling. The

2. one had an end with his life ; and 6 quam subito 1 The other,
when it beginneth once, shall never have an end. That life
is not like this. No : if the lives of all — I say not, men,
women, and children, but of all — and every of the creatures
that ever lived upon the earth or shall live to the world's end,
were all added one to another, and all spun into one life, this

Bernard. ^^^ exceedcth them all. This then, I make no question, will
^te^quiB ^^^^ another degree to think, quod delectabat fuit momenta-
ducunt ad neumy quod crudat est cetemum.

mortem,

Sermons preached in Lent. 85

Thirdly, If we match it with Lazarus autem^ that is, with 8.
die sight of others in that estate whence he is excluded ; and,
in them, with sorrow to consider what himself might have had
and hath lost for ever. " There shall be/' saith Christ of this Lu. 13. 28.
point, ^* weeping, and gnashing of teeth, to see Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets, in the Kingdom of
God, and yourselves thrust out of doors." Not only " weep-
ing" for grief that themselves have lost it, but '^ gnashing of
teeth" also for very indignation, that others have obtained it.
And of others not some other, but that Lazarus tstcy one of
these poor people whom we shun in the way, and drive our
coaches apace to escape from ; that of them, it may fall, we
may see some in bliss, ^^ when they shall lie in hell like sheep," Ps. 49. 14.
saith the Psalmist, that walked on earth like lions. Will not
this bear a third ?

But beyond all these, if we counterpoise it with the word 4.
wapaKaXeiToi, ^* is comforted,'' with which Abraham hath set it
in opposition — *' torment" opposed to " comfort ;" that is, tor-
ment comfortless, wherein no manner hope of any kind of
comfort. Neither of the comfort of mitigation ; for, in the
verse next before, all hope, of Kardyfrv^i';, * relief,' is denied,
even to " a drop of water ;'' neither of the comfort of delivery Lu. 16. 24.
at last ; for, in the verse next following, he is willed to know,
that, by reason of the " great partition," their case is such, ut Lu. 16. 26.
nan possint, that they cannot presently, or for ever, look for
any passive from thence, but must there tarry in torments
everlastingly. So neither comfort of relief, nor of delivery ; nor
the poor comfort, which in all miseries here doth not leave us,

dabit Deu8 his quoque finem ; [^^& ^^

An end will come : nay, no end will never come. Which
never is never deeply enougH imprinted nor seriously enough
considered. That this now shall be still now^ and never have
an end ; and this crucians be cruciaris for ever, and never
declined into a preter tense, as recepisti was. This is an
exaltation of this cross, above all else ; none shall ever come
down from it, none shall ever beg our body to lay it in our
sepulchre.

Fifthly, if we lay it to recordare. For, may I not add to all 6,
these, that being in this case he heareth recordare^ and is
willed to *' remember," when his remembering will do him no

86 Sermons preached in Lent.

SERM. good; but though he remember it in sorrow and in the
■ ^' — bitterness of his soul, yea though his sorrow be above
measure sorrowful, it will profit him nothing ? I say, grief
both utterly comfortless, and altogether unprofitable.

These five make him that feels it here wish, that none of
those he wisheth well may ever come there to know how hot
that " fire," or how terrible that " torment" is.

These five words are all within the compass of the verse
itself, and may serve every one as a nail to fasten our memory
to this cross ; that we may ever remember it and never forget
it, and never forgetting it, never feel it

This then is his cross. We long, I know, to have it taken

down; our ears are dainty, and the matter melancholic, and

we little love to hear it stood on so long. But Chrysostom

fConf. saith well, of that fire : Nunquid, si tacuimuSy extinximus ? ' If

808t. dT" wc speak not of it, will it go out V No, no : sive loquamur^

^*^2 1 *'^^ taceamusy ardet ille ; * speak we, or keep we silence, it

bumeth still, still it bumeth.* Therefore let us speak and

think of it, and let it stand in the name of God ; et exercea-

mus auditurriy saith the good Father, ne ita mollescaty * and keep

our ears in exercise, that they grow not nice.' If to hear of

it be painful, to feel it will be more. The invention is to

keep the exaltation, to take it up. For none so near it as they,

qui non toHunty donee super-imponitury ^ that take it not up till it

be laid upon them.'

3. Thus we have severally seen the counterpoints of this

ing,or cross; the top, which is in vitdy *in this life;' and the foot,

*^mfxro, which rcachcth ad novissima inferni, '* to the bottom of hell \^

nDeut.32. It remaineth we tenon both these together, as antecedent

and consequent : " Thou didst receive ;'^ " Now therefore."

1. First, that they may be ; 2. and then, how they may be joined.

1. First then we find, that recepisti is as it ends ; and that, by

this example, it may end in cruciarisy and prove the one end

of a heavy cross. Which first bringeth us out of admiration

of the riches of this life. When we see that these '*good

things" which after the tax of the world are counted, and in

a manner styled, the only good things, and in the deceitful

[S. Chry- balance of this world weigh down " Abraham's bosom," be

Lazar. not ever demonstrative signs of God's special liking ; nor

^^' ^••' they, ipso factOy highest in His favour that receive them in

Sermons preached in Lent. 87

greatest measure ; nor peradventure, as Christ saitb, so highly La. 16. 15.
accounted of in Heaven as they be on earth. Therefore^ they
that have them, not to reflect too much on them ; nor be ideo
kflatiy as saith St, Augustine, quia obsericatiy ' as much pride
[ in their soul as purple on their body.' And they that have
them not, not to cemulariy ^vex and grieve themselves' at
Nabal's vrealtb, Haman's preferment, this man's table ; seeing
there cometh SLJatn vero^ and when that cometh, we shall see
such an alteration in his state, as he that wisheth him worst
shall wish, that for every '* good thing" he received here he had
received a thousand ; and, with St. Bernard, ut omnes lapides ^
convertereniur in rosas, ' that every stone under his feet here
had been turned into a rose.' Such is his case now, and such
theirs that come where he is.

Is this all ? No. But, as it bringeth us out of admiration, 2.
80 it bringeth us into fear. For two things it offereth, either
of which is, or may be, matter of fear. 1. First, in that
he is Abraham's son. That Abraham hath of his seed in
hell, and that all his sons shall not rest in their father*s
bosom. Which offereth us occasion to fear, for all our pro-
fession. For though he were a son too, and so acknowledged
by Abraham, yet there he is now.

2. In that he is of Abraham*s rich sons, and one that
"received good things" in his life. Which ministereth new
matter of fear; that, as the Prophet saith, "Tophet is pre- Isa. 30. 33.
pared of old, and that even for great ones," for such as go in
purple, and wear fine linen, and fare full daintily ; — even for
such is it prepared. Not as every prison for common per-
sons, but as tophety or the tower, for great estates. So that it
may seem either of both these have their danger at their
heels ; for that they to him were, to many they are, and to
us they may be as antecedents to an evil consequent.

Men verily may flatter themselves ; but sure I can never
think but there is more in this ''Now therefore," than the
world will allow. And that this recordare of Abraham's
is not a matter so slightly to be slipped over. There is some
danger no doubt, and that more than will willingly be
acknowledged, to such as are " wealthy and well at ease in Amos 6. i.
Sion/' St. Gregory confesseth by himself, that never any
sentence entered so deep into his soul as this. And that, as

88 Sermons preached in Lent

S E R M. surgite mortui was ever in St. Hierom's ear, and non in co-

' — messationibusy " not in surfeiting," in St. Augustine's, by which

13. ' ' be was first converted ; so this was with him, and he could
^^^J^ not get it out of his mind. For be, sitting in the See of
^b. 8. 29.] Rome, when it was grown rich and of great receipt, was as
Hieron. he saith still in doubt of recepisti ; whether his exaltini? into
ad Eostoc. that Chair might not be his recompense at God's hands, and
^'^ all that ever he should receive from Him for all his ser-

vice. And ever he doubted this recepisti, which we so easily
pass over, and whether his case might not be like. Thus did
the good Father, and, as I think, not unwisely ; and would
God, his example herein might make due impression, and
work like fear, in so many as have in the eyes of all men
" received the good things in this life !" For this may daily
be seen every where, that divers that received them if ever
any did, and that in a measure heaped up and running over,
carry themselves so without remembrance or regard of this
point, as if no such simile were in the Scripture as that of the
Mat. 19.24. needle's eye; no such example as of this rich man, no such
recordare as this of Abraham which we have in hand. It
should seem, they have learned a point of divinity Abraham
2Pet.2.i6. never knew — Balaam's divinity I fear, *'to love the wages of
unrighteousness'' and a gift in the bosom, and yet to cry
Nu.23. 10. Moriatur anima mea, his soul should go straight to Abraham's
bosom for all that; and so, in effect, to deny Abraham's
consequence.

We must then join issue upon the main point, we cannot
avoid it; to enquire how this '* Now therefore" cometh in;
and how far and to whom this consequent holdeth. I demand
then. Was he therefore " tormented," because he " received
good things ?" Is this the case of all them that wear purple
and fare well in this life ? Shall every one, to whom God
reacheth such " good things" as these, be quit for ever from
Abraham's bosom? By no means. For Cujus est sinus,
* Whose is the bosom ?' Is it not Abraham's? And what
[S.Auga8t. was Abraham? Look Gen. 13. 2. "Abraham was rich in

in Ps 61

c u.'ad* cattle, in silver and gold." There is hope then for rich men,

°-' in a rich man's bosom. Then the bosom itself is a rich man's,

though a Lazarus be in it. Yea though we find here Lazarus

in it ; yet elsewhere, we find, he is not all. For the great

Sermons preached in Lent 89

lord that bare rule under Queen Candace ; the elect lady ; Ads a t7.
Joseph of Arimatbea, and the Areopagite — grave and wise ^^^ ^;
counsellors ; the purple seller ; and if the purple seller, why 57.]
not the purple wearer? Yes, the purple wearers too were ij^x^sietl^
earth Sidnts as we read, and are we doubt not in Abraham's d«l6. 29.
bosom also.

It was not therefore because he was rich; for then must
Abraham himself have been subject to the same sentence.
Nay, one may so be rich, and so use his riches together, as
they shall conclude in the other figure, and end in Solaris ;
and no ways hinder, but help forward his account, and bring
him a second recipies of the ** good things'' of that eternal life.
And, if you mark it well, we have here in this Scripture two
rich men : 1. One that giveth the recordare ; 2. The other, to
whom it is given. The example of a rich man, which rich
men to avoid; the sentence of a rich man, which rich men
to remember.

It is evident it was not for that he had " received good l
things in this life,'' seeing as truly as Abraham said to him,
" Son, remember, thou didst receive good things," so truly
might he have rejoined, ^Father, remember, thou didst re-
ceive, &c.' It was not that

Neither was it because he came by them unduly, by such 2.
ways and means as the soul of God abhorreth ; for it is, saith
Bernard, recordare quia recepisti — not, quia rapuisti^ or quia [S. Ber-
decepisHy * by ravine or deceit. Epist. 2.

Neither was it because he received them and wrapped them g. '
up. For as his receipts are in this verse, so his expences in
the nineteenth. So much in purple and linen, so much in
feasting.

JNeither was it, because receiving plenty, he took his portion 4.
of that he received in apparel or diet For Num solis stultis
apes mellificant ? saith the philosopher ; * Do bees make honey,
or worms spin silk, for the wicked or reprobate only ?' How-
beit it cannot be excused, that being but homo quidam, he
went like a prince ; for purple was princes' wear. Or that he
feasted, and that not meanly, but Xafnrp&Si ^* in all sumptuous
manner;" and that not at some set times, but koB^ ^fiepav,
" day by day ;" for this portion was beyond all proportion.

None of these it was. Yet we hold still some danger

90 Sermons preached in Lent.

SERM. there is; there is some, and this recordare is not idle or

■ — needless.

md.a What was it then that brought him thither, or, as St
dSS^ Bernard calleth it, what was his scala infemiy * the ladder by
^ *^0 which he went down to hell ?' that we may know, what is the

difference between Abraham's receipt and his; and when

recepisti shall conclude with crucians.
[S. Chiy- St. Chrysostom doth lay the weight on the word receptsti,
i^zan* in his natural or proper sense. For it is one thing saith he,
cone 8.] "xAjSeiVy that is, accipere^ * to receive or take ;' another, airoXjon

fieiVy that is, recipere, to * receive it as it were in full discharge

and final satisfaction.' And the same distinction doth Christ
Mat 6. 16. Himself observe in ej^e^i/ and airix^iVy in the sixth chapter of

St Matthew. Both have, and both receive ; but they that do

XdfietVy * receive them' as a pledge of God's farther favour ; but
[Vid. s. they that do aTroXdfieiVy ** receive them as a full and complete
lib^^'in reward," and have no more to receive, but must thereupon
^UJob 1 ^®'^^® ^^^ Q^'^ claim all demands in whatsoever else. Tan-

quam arrham^ and tanquam mercedem^ is the distinction in

schools.

1. With God verily it is a righteous thing to let every man
receive for any kind of good he hath done here. Yea, even
the heathen for their moral virtues, as St. Augustine holdeth
of the Romans, and the victories they received.

2. But righteous it is also, that the Reubenites, which choose
their lot in Gilead on this side of Jordan, and there seat
themselves, should not after claim their part too in the Land
of Promise. Even so, that they that will have, and have
their receiving time here, should not have it here and else-
where also.

3. Then all is in the choice where we will lay our recepisti;
whether here or there, in this or that life ; in purple and silk,
and the delights of the world, or in the rest and comfort of
Abraham's bosom. Whether we will say ; Lord, if I may so
receive, that I may be received ; if I may receive so the good
of this life, that I be not barred the other to come, tanquam
arrhamy * as the earnest of a better inheritance,' Ecce me. But
if my receiving here shall be my last receipt, if I shall receive
them tanquam mercedem, ' as my portion for ever,' I renounce
them ; put me out of this receipt, and reserve my part in

Sermons preached in Lent. 91

store for the Land of the living. And of evil : If it must
come here or there, with St Augustine, Damne^ hie ure, hie
seca, ibi parce ; ' Let my searing and smart be here ; there let
me be spared ;' and from cruciaru, the ^ torment' to come,
Bera me, Domine.

To very good purpose said the ancient Father; Quisque
HveSf quisque pauper ; Nemo dives, nemo pauper ; Animus omnia
facit, ' It is somewhat to be rich or poor, it is nothing to be
rich or poor; it is as the mind is; the mind maketh all.'
Now, saith St. Chrysostom, what mind he carried is gathered
oat of Abraham's doubUng and trebling, TV, tiuZy and tud:
recepisti tu, bona taa, in mtd tud; which words are working
words, as he taketh them, and contain in them great emphasis.
Understanding by tua, not so much that he had in possession
as that he made special reckoning of, for that is most properly
termed ours; Animus omnia fadt

This life is called * his life ;' not because he lived in it, but i.
because he so Uved in it as if there had been no other life but
it. And in his account there was no other ; Ao^ fiol to
(rfjiiepovy Tui/Se a-ol to avpiov, * give him this life, let this day be
his day, take to-morrow who will.' This did not Abraham ;
for he ** saw a day,'' and that after this life, that rejoiced him Joh. 8. «
more than all the days of his life.

This life as it was his life, so the good of it his good —
bona tua. This his life, these the portion of his life ; these he
chose for his good; they his, and he theirs. They that
make such a choice, their recepisti may well end in crudaris.

This way St. Chrysostom, by the mind. St. Augustine
taketh another by the memory, more proper to the Patriarch's
meaning ; and that four ways.

1. For, saith he, Abraham willing him to remember he had
received such things, implieth, in effect, that he had clean
forgotten that any such things he had ever received. Look
how Esau speaketh, Habeo bona plurima, '* I have enough. Gen. sa 8
my brother ;" and, as his pew-fellow here, Anima habes, Lu. 12. u
*'Soul, thou hast goods enough;" even so for all the world
it seemeth this party here he had them, sure he was he had
them; but that he ** received" them he never remembered.
Now he is put in mind, quia recepisti; "Now, therefore, thou
art tormented."

92 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. 2. Now, not remembering he had received them, no marvel

• — if he forgat why he received them, or with what condition ;

forgetting God in Heaven, no marvel if he remembered not

Lazarus on earth. Verily, neither he nor any man receive

[a Chry- them as proprietaries, but as stewards and as accountants, as

sost do

Lazkr. Christ telleth us above in this chapter. Not for ourselves
^^-'^'^ only, or for our own use, but for others too; and among
others, for Lazarus by name. If Lazarus receive not, it was
his faidt and not God*s, Who gave him enough to supply his
own uses and Lazarus' want too. For both which two,
he and all receive that receive at God's hands. But he, it
seemeth, received them to, and for himself, alone, and nobody
else ; that Abraham saith truly, Recepisti tu — tu et nemo alitis;
* You and yours and nobody besides.' For his recepisti ended
in himself, and he made himself summam omnium receptorum.
For if you call him to account by the writ of redde rationem,
this must be his audit : In purple and linen so much, and in
belly-cheer so much ; so much on his back, and so much on
his board, and in them endeth the total of his receipt ; except
you will put in his hounds too, which received of him more
than Lazarus might. This is indeed recepisti tu solus. This
did not Abraham, for his receipt reacheth to strangers, and
others besides himself; and Lazarus he received in his bosom
on earth, or else he had never been in Heaven to have
him there.

Will you see, **Now therefore,^' the consequent in kind?
Therefore is this party now in the gulf, because living him-
self was a gulf; it is now gurges in gurgite^ * but one gulf in
another.' While he lived, he was as a gulf swallowing all :
** Now therefore," the gulf hath swallowed him. Remember
this, for it is a special point. For if our purple and fine linen
swallow up our alms ; if our too much lashing on, to do good
to ourselves, make us in state to do good to none but our-
selves; if our riotous wasting on expenses of vanity, be a gulf
and devour our Christian employing in works of charity ; there-
is danger in recepisti, even the danger of " Now therefore ;"
gurges eras et in gurgitem projiderisy * a gulf thou wert, and
into the gulf shalt thou go.' Ever, for the most part, you
Ezek. 16. shall find these two coupled. In Sodom " pride, and fulness
^' of bread," with not stretching the hand to the poor. In

Sermons preached in Lent. 98

Judah great bowls of wine, and rich ^* beds of ivory/' with Amo« 6
Me compassion on the misery of Joseph. And here going
richly, and faring daintily, with Lazarus' bosom and belly both
empty. The saying of St Basil is highly commended, that
mm) tQ9 cuTGyria^ 17 <l>t\tynfjUa, * Pride is prodigality's whet-
stone.' And so it is sure ; and sets such an edge upon it in
oar expenses, that it cuts so deep into our receipt, and shares
so much for purple and linen, as it leaves but a little for
Lazarus' portion. Sure so it is: less purple must content us,
and somewhat must be cut off from quotidie splendidcy if we
will have Liazarus better provided for.

This I have stood a little on, that it may be remem-
bered. It is Christ's special drift, both in the parable be-
fore and in this story here ; and " remember" it we must, if
either as in that we will be received into "everlasting
tabernacles," or as in this we will be delivered from " ever-
lasting torments.^'

3. Now I add that, in thus forgetting Lazarus to remember
himself, he remembered not himself neither, but failed in that
too. For whereas he consisted of two parts, 1. a body, and
2. a soul, he remembered the one so much as he quite left
the other out of his memento. For his recepisti fu was his
body, and nothing else. Now reason would, the body should
not take up the whole receipt, but that the poor soul should
be thought upon too. Purple and silk, and Ede, bibcy they
are but the body's part ; but alms and works of mercy, they,
they, be the soul's. May not our souls be admitted suitors,
that we would remember them, that is, remember Lazarus?
for that is the soul's portion ; for the other part, he and we all
remember fast enough.

4. Thus remembering neither God nor Lazarus, nay, nor
his own soul; his memory thus failing him, God provided
and sent some to put him in mind. Sure, as he had received
those former "good things," so also had he received " Moses
and the Prophets^' by his own confession ; and in receiving
them, he had received a great benefit, and peradventure
greater in this than the other ; and Moses had told him as
much as Abraham tells him now. Utinam novissima provide^ Deu.32.
rent, " Would God," saith Moses, *' men would remember the

four novissima;'' 1. That there is a death; 2. there is a ju<^

94 Sermons preached in Lent.

SERM. meht; 3. there is a Heaven: 4. there is a hell. But of ail
V. .

'• — the four, Novissima infemi, in the same chapter, " the nether-

' most ;" Nunc igitur cruciarisy * the place of torments.' The

Jer. 5. 81. Prophets said as much. Jeremy — Ever think that an end there
will be, Ut quid fiat in novissimOy " what shall become of us in

ka. 88. 14. that end ? " Who among us," saith Esay, " can endure devour-
ing fire ?" who can dwell with ardores sempiternij ** everlasting
burnings ?" These he had, and if he had heard these, it is
plainly affirmed, Audiant ipsos would have done it; they
would have kept him for ever coming in that place. But
these also, living, he strove to forget, and as ingenderers of
melancholy to remove them far away. And that he might
the more easily do it, it was thought not amiss to call their
authority in question, whether they were worth the hearing
or no. It is in effect confessed by him, that his '*five
brethren" and he were of opinion, that the hearing of Moses
and the Prophets was a motive far unworthy to carry such
men as they. An Angel from Heaven, or " one from the
dead," might perhaps ; but the books of Moses should never
move them. It was not for nothing he complaineth of his
" tongue :" Hid lingudy * with that tongue' he had scorned the
holy oracles; peradventure that place wherein he now lay,
with that tongue which in that place feeleth the greatest
torment, and from that place the smallest comfort; both
which it had before profanely derided.

Thus then you see his scalam infemiy the brief of his faults,
for which his receipt endeth in thisbitter receipt of torments

[S. Chry- without end. 1. Epicurism: no life but this, no good but

Lazar.* these here, good attire, good cheer. 2. This was his reward;

cone 2. 8.] j^fngji^ dico vobiSf recepistis. St. Chrysostom's two. 1. Re-
membering neither God in Heaven, nor Lazarus on earth ;

2. but being 2^gurgeSy *a gulf of all that he received, himself.

3. No, not his own soul ; 4. nor last of all, this place of
torments before he was in it, and scorning at Moses for
remembering him of it This you see ; and in him you see
who they be over whom Abraham shall read the like
sentence : Qui hahet aureSy Sfc.

_ II. Now then we have set up both sides of this cross, and

The title : jt -^

Becordare fastened each part to other with "Now therefore;" let us
•^ affix the inscription and so an end. That is recordare JUiy

Sermons preached in Lent, 95

the want of which brought him thither^ the supply of it shall
keep us thence.

FiH recordare — optime dictum sed serOy * excellently well said,
but too late/ s£uth St Bernard. For, alas ! cometh Abraham
in now with recordare f doth he now affix the title ? why, it is
too late. True it is so, but till now he would not suffer any
to set it up. Before, while it was time, and when it
might have done him good, then he would not endure it;
now he is fain, when it is out of time, to know what in time
might have done him good ; and may do others, if in time
they look to it. Indeed, to him now it is of no use in
the world, but only to let him see by what justice he is where
he is, and what he suffereth he suffereth deservedly. The best
is, Abraham hath more sons than this son, and they may
take good by it, and have use of that whereof he had none.
With this son it is too late, with some other it is not Not
with us ; we are yet upon the stage, our jam vero is not yet
come. And for us is this inscription set up, and for our
sakes both Christ reported, and St. Luke recorded this
recor€lare.

If you ask. What good is that? What is the good of
exemplary justice ? What good is it to see a malefactor
punished, or to read in a paper the crime wherefore ? What,
but only that by reading what brought him thither, we may
remember what will keep us from thence. The neglect of
recordare is the cause he is there ; why then recordare ^li, and
keep thee from thence. So with one view of this inscription,
we read both his ruin and our own remedy.

This is the right use of this title ; God forbid we should
have no use of it, till we come where he is I But it is there-
fore set over his head in that Ufe, that we may read it in this ;
read it and remember it ; remember it, and never have title
set over ours.

It will be good then sometimes to keep some day holy to
the exaltation of this cross, and to set this title before our
eyes ; to approach it and read it over ; yea not once, but often
to record this recordare. Indeed, it is that St. Gregory saith ; [s. Greg.
Recordatione magis eget versus iste quam expositione ; * indeed It i5).2y'°^*
more needs a disposition to remember it, than an exposition to ?*?™; n^'
understand it.'

96 Sermons preached in Lent.

S £ R M. We are yet ; how long we shall we know not, nor how soon

• — vitd tud will be gone, nor how quickly this jiam vero will come

in place. This we know ; between his state and ours there
is only a puff of .breath in our nostrils. That this life, short
though it be, and in a manner a moment, yet hoc est momentum
unde pendet (Btemitas ; ' on it no less matter dependeth than
our eternity ;' or bliss or bane, comfort or torment. That in
that place, without all hope either of relief, escape, or end ;
and that from thence, neither our profession of truth, nor the
greatness of our receiving shall deliver, but only this recordare.
It standeth us then in hand to take perfect impression of this
recordare; and, as St. Augustine saith, oblivisci quid simus^
attendere quidfuturi simus^ * to forget what we now be, to con-
sider what we shall be' without all question ere long, but we
know not how soon ; but oft it falleth, the shorter and sooner
the less we think of it

1. Three things then I wish for conclusion ; 1. that we may
remember; 2. remember in time; 3. remember effectually.
That we may remember the fire, the thirst and the torments ;
and know what they mean by memory rather than by sense.
Abraham from Heaven calls to us to that end ; the party in
hell crieth, ne veniant et ipsL

2. That we do it in time, that we be not in his case, never
" lift up our eyes" till we " be in hell," nor remember that may
do us good till it be too late.

s. That we do it effectually from the heart; for there is a
heart in recordarcy and that this being our greatest business,
we make it not our least care.

Our remembering will be effectual, if we pray to God daily
we may so receive as we may be received. And our remem-
bering shall be effectual, if it have the effect, that is, make us
remember Lazarus. Quotidie Lazarus^ you may find Lazarus
if you seek him, every day ; nay you shall find him, though
you seek him not Our present estate, by present occasion
of the dearth now upon us, makes the memory more firesh
than at other times it would be. Remember then, our being
remembered there lieth on this their remembrance here,
and upon their receiving our recipies or rather recipieris.
And remember that day, wherein what we have received
shall be forgotten, and what He hath received of us shall

Sermons preached in Lent 97

be remembered^ and nothing else shall be remembered, but

fiod uni ex minimis. The attaining ^^ everlasting Tabernacles," Mat 10.42.

the avoiding ** everlasting torments," lie upon it That which

we remember now in Lazarus' bosom, shall be remembered to

us again in Abraham's bosom. To which, &c.

II

A SERMON

PBBACHKD IN 4'

THE COURT AT GREENWICH, t-

ON SUNDAY, BEING THE FOURTH OF APRIL, A.D. MDXCVI. .w.

2 Corinthians xii. 15.

And I will most gladly bestow, and will be bestowed for your
souls^ though the more I love you, the less I am loved.

Ego autem libentissime impendam, et superimpendar ipse pro atii-
mabus vestris, licet plus vos diligens, minus diligar,

\_AndIwill very gladly spend and be spent for you ; though the more
abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Engl. Trans.]

S E R M. The words be St. Paul's, and to the Corinthians. And if
— XL — we neither knew whose they were, nor to whom, yet this we
might know by the words themselves, that it is love that
speaks, and unkindness that is spoken to. Impendam — super-
impendar — libentissime. This must needs be love ; and that,
unkindness, that requiteth such love with such an etsi ; etsi
minus diligar^ " though, the more I love the less I be loved.'*
1. Many ways it may be manifest, that St. Paul loved the

1 por. 15. Church of Corinth, more than many other loved them, for

he laboured more for them. By the time he spent with
Acts 18. 11. them, a year and a half full — scarce with any so much.

2 Cor. 12. By his visiting them three several times — not any so oft. By

two of his largest Epistles sent to them — not to any the like.
And in the one of them we see here, how frank and
how kind a profession he maketh, in gud omne verbum chari-
talis igne vaporatur, * wherein every word carrieth a sweet
scent of love's perfume' — it is St. Gregory. These, each
of these : but all these together may prove his magis diligamy
the abundance of his love to Corinth.

Sermons preached in Lent 99

Now there should be in love the virtue of the load-stone^ 2.
the virtue attractive^ to draw like love to it again. There
should be, but was not. For their little love appeared by
their many unloving exceptions which they took to him. To
his office : that he was but an Apostle of the second head,
and no ways to be matched with the chief Apostles. To his 2 Cor. 12.
person : that he was one of no presence. Somewhat good '
at an Epistle, but his person or presence nothing worth. To 2 Cor. lo.
his preaching: that he was but tStcSr?;? rat Xoy^, "not so2Cor.ii.6.
eloquent by much," as divers of them were ; nor his sermons
ex opere Carinthiaco,^ of the Corinthian fashion.' Indeed,
I know not how, but he could not hit on their vein.

This cold infusion of so faint regard on their parts mights,
have quenched his love. It did ApoUos', for Apollos was
once at Corinth, but found them so diverse to please, as
he waxed weary and got him away ; and when he was moved
to return to them, irdmms om fjv 0iXr)/jLa, " his mind was i Cor. 16.
not at all" to come there again as yet, saith St. Paul. It
made Apollos give over. So might it St. Paul too. But him
it did not. Charitas qua (Bdificabat, ^ the love wherewith he
built' was like lime, slacked not but rather kindled with
water. For notwithstanding all these, such was his zeal, and
he tantus zelator animarum^ that we see his affection, and we
hear his resolution what it is. Unkind they might be, but no
unkindness of theirs, or verdict never so hard, or censure
never so sharp ; no minus diligar should move him, or make
him love their souls a whit the less.

Wherein, lest they might be jealous he sought to Corinth 4.
so oft for the ore of it, because the soil was rich, there
was good to be done, as men are ever that way quick-eyed ;
he appealed to all his former course with them, that he
had sought nothing hitherto. Nothing he had sought, nor 2 Cor. ii.
nothing he would seek. And to come to this our verse, not * *
only seek nothing, 1. but he would bestow ; 2. bestow, and
be^ bestowed himself; 3. and that, most willingly — indeed it
is higher, riZLara, " most gladly :" 4. and all this, to use Chry- [S. Chry-
sostom s words, not virep rcov ovoe (f>i\ovvTCi)v, ^ for those that
had not begun to love him first,' but inrep t&v ovS' avTL(l>L'
XovvrmVy * for those that being loved first did not love him
again.' 5. And that, not kut laa, * in equal measure' — that

II 2

] 00 Sermons preached in Lent.

s £ R M. is not bis complaint, but such as ** tbe more" (it is fuller in

— — — tbe Greek, ireppLaaorifm^^ " tbe more abundantly'') " tbey were- j»
loved, loved bim the less for it." The degrees are many ; and f"
look how many degrees, so many several points of elevation. ^
5. All which when I consider^ I cannot choose but marvel !*^
at his love, which truly is right admirable ; and more at their '^
minusy than his magis. But at his heroical spirit most of =Qs
all, whom such and so great unkindness could not overcome* '!
The rather, when I lay it to, and compare it with ours in a
these times ; in which, a kind of love we have, such as it &:
is, but such as will not endure St Paul's assay ; or if in ){
some degrees it do, if it be not respected straight — ^not as *
it deserveth, for so haply it is, but as it supposeth itself to i
deserve, if it be crossed with any unkindness, it groweth ^
abrupt. Every minus diligar makes it abate ; and far we are <
from this Christian magnanimity, to resolve with him in the
eleventh chapter, QuodfaciOy hoc etfadam^ " what I do, that

2 Cor. 11. I will do still.^' Or here, love I will still, " though the more
I love the less I be loved."

The thing loved, is the Corinthians^ souls. And as Corinth
itself was situate in a narrow land between two seas, so are
they in the verse ; having on the one side, the sea of
self-love, in the former part; and on the other, the gulf
of unkindness, in the latter. Through either of which
St. Paul maketh a first and second navigation, if haply
he may so adire Corinthum^ gain their souls to Christ, more
precious to him than Corinth itself and all the wealth in it.

Thedi- In the love two things are offered. For, in the former
I, moiety of the verse, be is encountered with self-love, 1. which
bestoweth nothing, 2. but least of all his life ; 3. or if it do^
it is not most gladly ,* nay, not gladly at all. These three he
beateth down : the first, with impendam ; the second, with
impendar; the third, with Hbentissime. Thus having van- :
quished the love of himself in the former, in the latter moiety
unkindness riseth up. Unkindness in them for whom he had
done all the former. Over which second enemy having a
second conquest also, and triumphing over it with his etsi, he
sheweth his love to be a love of proof, to have all the per-
fections and signatures of love ; all which are within compass
of this verse. Amor^ as in schools we reckon them, 1. Jm-

vLsiion.

Sermons preached in Lent 101

pensivus ; 2. JEjepensivus, 3. Intensivus, and 4. JSxtensivus.

The two former in the two verbs : 1. active, impendam ; and

8. passive, imperidar; '' bestowing," or spending; ** bestowed,"

or spent itsel£ The two latter in the adverb and the con-

jimction ; 3. Intensive, straining itself to the highest degree,

^most gladly ;'' and 4. Extensive, stretching itself to those

that are farthest from love, and least deserve it; JEisi minus

dSigar. 1. *'To spend;" 2. "To spend and be spent;"

3. ** To spend and be spent most willingly." If the fiill point

were there, it were enough. 4. But not only Kbentissime, but

Ubentissime etsi ; '^ most gladly," yea, ^' though the more he,

the less they ;" — that is all in all.

But then, lest we mistake our term of love, as easily we u.
may, and confound it with lust, we must look to omx pro in
the second part. It is pro ammabus, " soul-love," he meaneth
all the while. ** Love," the finit of the Spirit ; not lust, the GaL 5. 22.
weed of the flesh. Not of this flesh, sister to worms, and Job 17. 14
daughter to rottenness ; but of the spirit allied to the Angels,
and ** partaker in hope of the Divine nature^^ itself And not 2 Pet 1. 4.
of one only, but animahus^ "of souls'' — more than love of one
soul ; many souls, many thousands of souls, of a whole state or
country. Them to love, and to them thus to prove our love, is
j it which St. Paul would teach, and it which we need to learn.
Hiese be the two parts. Whereof, &c.
To enter the treaty of the first part. We begin at the i.
? four points: 1. Impendam, 2. Impendar, 3. LibeTitissime, and

4. Etsi, If love be "an ensign," as Cant 6, the colours. If Cant. 6. 4.
it be ''a band,'' as Hosea 11, the twists. If a scale, as Chry- Hos. 11. 4.
sostom, the ascents. If an art, as Bernard, the rules of it. [S. Ber-
Indeed, they talk much of an art of love, and books of verses Nat et^
have been written of it ; but above all verses, is carmen hoc $^^
amoris. This verse hath more art than they all ; and of this Pi™.
it may be said. Me legat, et lecto carmine doctus erit; Mearn it [OvkL Art
and say you learned love.' To take them as they lie, and initj* ***^'
with the first, first. Ego vero impendam.

1. There was a world when one said. Da mihi cor tuum et 1.
sufficit; * bestow your heart on me, and I require no farther j^^^"
bestowing;' and the bestowing of love, though nothing but^"V^'^"*^
love, was something worth.

2. Such a world there was, but that world is worn out. All

102 Sermons preac/ied in Lent.

S K u M. goeth now by impendam. Love and all is put out to interest z

'- — The other empty-handed love is long since banished the ';

court, the city, and the country. For long since it is that '^

iSam.22.7. King Saul saw it, and said it to his courtiers that he was not ;
regarded, but because he gave them fields, and vineyards, and ;i
offices over hundreds and thousands. Nor yet Diana in the i

Acts 19.24. city of Ephesus, magnilSed there by the craftsmen, but because ;
by her silver shrines they had there advantage. Nay nor :

Joh. 6. 26. Christ Himself neither in the country, but because they ** ate ]
of the loaves and were filled. ^ For many miracles had they :
seen much greater than that, yet never professed they so ;:
much, sicut tunc exaturatiy as when he bestowed a good meal v
on them. i

3. Such is now the world's love, but specially at Corinth, i
where they do cauponari amorem indeed ; set love to hire, and i
love to sale, and at so high a rate, as some were forced to i
give over, lest paying for love they might buy repentance too, ,
and both too dear.

4. There is no remedy then ; St. Paul must apply himself ;
to time and place, wherein as all things else, so love depends
upon impendaniy yielding and paying.

5. Now, there is nothing so pliant as love, ever ready to
transform itself to whatsoever may have likelihood to prevail; ;
and if it be liberality, into that too. For, that love is liberal,
nay prodigal, the Greek proverb noteth it that saith. The
purse-strings of love are made of a leak blade j easily in sunder,
and wide open with no great ado.

6. St. Paul therefore cometh to it ; and as he maketh his
2 Cor. 12. case a father's case towards them in the verse next before,
Lii. 16 31 ®^ ^^ saith with the kind father, Ecce omnia mea tua sunt

Father^s love and all must be proved by bestowing.

7. Yea, "I will bestow." Now alas, what can Paul bestow?
Especially upon so wealthy citizens ? What hath he to part

2Tim.4.i3. with, but his "books and his parchments?" Ware, at Athens
perhaps somewhat; but at Corinth, little used and less re-
garded. Indeed, if silver and gold be all, and nothing else
worth the bestowing, nothing will come under impendam but
it; — his bestowing is stalled. But, by the grace of God
there is something else. There be talents — so the world will
call them when they list, howsoever they esteem them scarce

. Sermons preached in Lent. 103

rorth pence a piece. And there be *' treasures of wisdom and

mowledge/^ in Christo JesUy saitb St. Paul. Indeed, so had GoL 2. 8.

St Paul need to say ; he had best magnify his own impendam^

br he hath nothing else to make of. Nay, it shall not stand

upon his valuation. They that had both, both the wealth of

Corinth and the wisdom of Paul, and both in abundance, as

being hoth of them Prophets ; the one of them, King David,

preferreth this impendam of Paul's before ^^gold, fine gold. Pa. 19. lo.

much fine gold;" and that we may know how much that

much is, ''before thousands of gold and silver." This was Fa. 119.72.

no poor Apostle. The other. King Solomon, saith directly ;

''There is gold, and a multitude of rich stones; but the lips Pro. 20.15.

of knowledge — that is the precious jewel" And not policy,

but scientia sacrorum, prudentia ; " the knowledge of holy Pro. 9. lo.

things is the wisdom'^ he meaneth. And it was no flourish,

he was in earnest. For it is well known he himself chose i Kings

them before the other when be was put to his choice, and that

his liking in that choice was highly approved by God's own

liking. The truth is, men have no sense of their souls till

they be ready to part with them ; and then is St. Paul's

impendam called for, and never seriously before, when their

case is such as they can little feel what the bestowing is

worth.

And because they would not seek to feel it before, it is
God's just punishment they feel it not then. But if men will
labour to have sense of that part in due time, they should find
and feel such an estate of mind as none know but such as have
felt ; surely such as they would acknowledge to be worth an
impendam. Indeed, this it is St. Paul can bestow, and this it
is Corinth needs ; and the more wealthy it is, the more. The
other, as he hath it not, so they need it not, that is, aurum
etargentum ; quod autem habet, ^^ but that he hath,'^ he is ready Acts 3. 6.
to bestow. What would we have more. Fecit quod potuity Mark 14. 8.
saith our Saviour in Mary Magdalene's case ; and dedit quod Marki2.44.
habuit, in the case of the poor widow's mites ; and that is as Lu. 2i. 4.
much as God doth, or man can require. But be it little, or
be it much, he that giveth all leaveth nothing ungiven, and
therefore his impendam is at the highest. 2.

But when it is at the highest, the passive impendar is higher ^^^^j^*
than it. Much more to " be bestowed," than " to bestow." inqtendar.

104 Sermons preached in Lent,

SERM. And therefore it hath a super-impendar bestowed on it.

' — 1. For first, they that bestow give but of their fruits; but he

that is bestowed giveth fruit, tree, and alL In that, the
bestower remained unbestowed; here, he himself is in the
deed of gift too. 2. Secondly, before there was but one act
of bestowing only ; here in one are both bestowing and being
bestowed, and there being both must needs be better than
one. 3. Thirdly, before, that which was bestowed, what was

Heb. 12. 4. it? Our good, not our blood; our Uving, not our life. Non-
dum ad sangvineniy ^^not yet so far as to the shedding of
blood. ^^ Then, there is somewhat behind. But if to the
shedding of that, then is it love at the farthest ; if it be as

Cant. 8. 6. Solomon ^xh^ fortis sicut mors; "dare throw death his

Job. 15. 18. gauntlet." Majorem hoc nemoy saith Christ; "greater love
hath no man than this, to bestow his life." 4. And indeed,
we see many can be content to bestow frankly, but at no
hand to be bestowed themselves. Yea, that they may not be
bestowed, care not what they bestow. For self-love crieth to

Mat 16. 22. us. Spare our living; but in any wise, propitius esto tUn, to

Job 2. 4 spare our life. " Skin for skin^^ is nothing but vmpendere ne
impendamur; 'to spend all we have, to spare ourselves.' But
hither also will St. Paul come from iairavav to iKSairavaaOtUy
without any reservation at all of himself j to do or suffer, " to
spend or to be spent.''

How "to be spent;" will he die? Yea indeed. What,
presently here at Corinth? No, for at this time, and long
after he was still alive ; and yet he said truly impendar for all
that. For, as before we said, so say we in this. If there be
no way " to be bestowed" but by dying out of hand, they
that in the field receive the bullet, or they that at the stake
have the fire set to them, they and they only may be said " to
be bestowed." That is a way indeed, but not the only way ;
but other ways there be beside them too. As that is said " to
be bestowed," not only that is defrayed at one entire payment,
but that which by several sums is paid in ; especially, if it be
when it was not due, nor could not be called for. This I
mean : The Patriarch Lot, or the Prophet Jeremy, that

2Pet2.7,8. dwelling where sin abounded, and seeing and hearing, " vexed
their righteous souls" with the daily transgressions of the
people, and for their unkindness too ; and thereby prevented

Sermons preached in Lent, 105

their tenn, and paid nature^s debt ere their day came, be-
stowed themselves say I, though not at once. For, hearts'
grief and heaviness do more than bestow, for they even con-
sume and waste a man's life. And Timothy, that by giving iTim.4.13.
attendance to reading, meditation, and study, grew into an
ime^ia^ and ** often infirmities,'' and thereby shortened his iTiiiL5.2d.
time by much, bestowed himself say I, though not at one
instant. He that knew it bare witness, that that course of
life is '' a wearying," yea, and a wearing of it too ; and spends Ecc. 12. 12.
another manner substance than the sweat of the brows. This
then^ for the present, was St Paul's impendar. By intentive
meditation, for his books and parchments took somewhat from
his sum ; by sorrow and grief of heart, for Quis scandalizatur 2 Cor. 11.
et ego non uror? and that he said and said truly, Quotidie
nuniar, he bestowed himself by inch-meal ; and might avow si.
his tmpendar before God or man. And so far it is the case of
all them that be in this case — Sal terrcB^ as Christ termeth Mat 5. id.
them; which salt, by giving season, melteth itself away,
and ceaseth in short time to be that it was. Lux mundi^ Mat 5. 14.
" the light of the world," aliis ministrandoy seipsos consumendoy
* lighting others, and wasting themselves/ that is, abridging
their natural course, and drawing on their untimely diseases
and death, before their race be half run.

But, to make it a perfect impendar and to give it his super^
after all this he came to that other too. For so he did ; in
that point, like the poor labouring ox to which in the ninth 1 Cor. 9. 9.
chapter of the former Epistle he resembleth his state, spend-
ing hb time in earing the ground for com, in inning the com,
in treading out the com; his neck yoked, and his mouth
muzzled, and in the end, when all is done, offered on the
altar too and made a sacrifice of. It was his case, and thither
he came at last; and therefore in both cases, he might truly
say impendar, and super^mpendar both.

But to elevate it yet a point higher we say, that as either 3.
of these are much, and both exceeding much ; yet above both tensivus-,
these is that, which though we handle third, it standeth first, gi^e.
the adverb Ubentissime. True it is, which in divinity we say :
with God the adverb is above the verb, and the inward
affection wherewith, above the outward action or passion of
impendam or impendar, either. With men it is so too. When a

■ik

:=

106 Sermons preac/ied in Lent ' :

S £ R M. displeasure is done us, say we not, we weigh not so much the ^^f

— injury itself, as the malicious mind of him that did offer it? 21

And if in evil it hold, why not in good much more ? Not so ,;£
much impendar, the thing which ; as libentissimey the good .«
heart wherewith it is bestowed. And will you see the mind ^^
wherewith St. Paul will do both these ? By this adverb ffiuna ^^
you may look into his very heart. Bestow he will, and be be-
stowed too ; and that, not utcunque, ^ in any sort,' be con-
tented to come to it, but willingly ; — willingly, nay readily ; ^
readily, nay gladly; and the degree is somewhat, ^Surra, ^'most r
gladly," in the very highest of all, in the superlative d^ee. >^
To spend, and spending to make no more reckoning of it j^
than of chaff; nay it is more, to be glad of our loss, more .
glad than others would be of their gain. To be spent, and in ^
being spent not to hold our life precious : nor so, but to re- ^
joice in it, and as if death were advantage ; in hoc est ctiantas, .^
certainly. Death of itself is bitter, and loss is not sweet ;
Then, so to alter their natures as to find sweetness in loss -
whereat all repine, and gladness in death which maketh all to ^
mourn, verily herein is love. Or, if not here, where? Nay, .
here it is indeed, and before now we had it not. For in flat «
ri CJor. 18. terms he avoweth, in the thirteenth chapter before of his

former Epistle, if we sever this from the other two, one may ,
part with all his goods to feed the poor, and yet have no love ; ,
one may give his body to be burnt, and yet have no love.
And then, though he do impendere^ "bestow" all he hath;
and though he do impendiy " be bestowed" himself, nihil est,
* he is nothing^ if he want this affection, which is love indeed, .
the very soul of love, and the other but cr/eeXero?, but the skin
and bones, and indeed nought else but the carcass, without it
Therefore it was that St Paul set this in the first place before
the other two, because the other two be but ciphers, and after
this the figure set, they be tens and hundreds, and have their
valuation ; but without it, of themselves they be but ciphers,
just nothing. Thus much St Paul hath said, in saying these
three words, 1. Impendaniy 2. Impendar^ 3. Libentissime. Thus
much they amount to.

And now must we pause a little to see what will become
of all this, and what these three will work in the Corin-
thians.

Sermons preac/ied in Lent. 107

We marvel at the love : we shall more marvel when we see
nhat manner of men on whom it is bestowed. What his
proofe are we have heard^ how large and how loving, and thus
&r is he come^ only to win favoiur and like mutual love at
their hands, without eye to any other thing in the world. No
vaira ; no — ^but vos only. This is all. And not this, not 2 Cor. 12.

14

80 much ; nay not so little as this will come. Which, if it did

come, what singular thing were it ? since the ** very publicans Mat 5. 46.

do the like,** love him that loveth them. Which we gather by

his etsi. Wherein, as he may, in no loud and bitter manner

he complaiDeth, but complaineth though ; that seeking their

love, and nothing else, so hard was his hap, he found it not.

No^ in a greater, or as great a measure, as his ; but minus for

magis, and so he a great loser by it. The more, the higher,

the nearer, his; the less, the lower, the farther off, theirs; so

that little likelihood of ever meeting.

This is St. Paul's case, to meet with unkindness ; and not Lu. 17. 14,
only his, but Christ met with nine for one too. Indeed, it is '
common, and not to be noted but for commonness. De in-
gratis etiam ingrati queruntuvy ^ they that are unkind themselves
inveigh against the unkindness of others.' And, as it was
Baid of them that made Caesar away, Oderunt tyrannvm^ non
tyrannidem^ so may it truly here ; the persons that are unkind
they hate, rather than the vice itself. Yet, even to know
this, doth no hurt, what St Paul met with in the Corinthians,
and this too, that all unkind persons dwell not at Corinth.
And as he to be pitied, so they to be blamed. All other
commodities return well from Corinth ; only love is no traffic.
St Paul cannot make his own again, but must be a great
loser withal. We cannot but pity the Apostle in this minus
of his. St. Augustine saith well ; Nulla est major ad amorem
provocation quam prcsvenire amando, Nimis enim durus est ani-
muSy qui amorem etsi nolebat impendere, nolit tamen rependere*
* No more kindly attractive of love, than in loving to prevent ;
for exceeding stony is that heart, which, though it Uke not to
love first, will not love again neither;' neither first, nor
second. Yet so hard were theirs that neither one way nor
other, recte nor reflecte, would either begin or follow. No,
not provoked by all those so many forcible means, that St
Cbrysostom maketh a wonder at it, Quomodo non converteren-

108 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. iur in amorem^ ^ that they were not melted and resolved into
'■ — love itself.'

4. Which cold success openeth a way to the last point, the

^1^^' point indeed of highest admiration, and of hardest imitation

^|^«|»»«* of all the rest, in the conjmiction Etsi. Which conjunction

is situated, much like Corinth itself, in a narrow land, as it

werfe between two seas ; beaten upon the one with self-love,

upon the other with unkindness. Hitherto we have had to

do but with self-love, and his assaults ; but now unkindness

also is up. These Corinthians, saith St. Paul, my affection

standeth toward them in all love. Love them and spare not,

saith self-love, but tene quod kabes. Nay sure, Impendamy *^ I

will bestow it" Well, if there be no remedy — But, hear

you, Propitius esto tibiy for all that. Nay, nor that neither.

Mat 16. ImpendoTy " I will be bestowed myself too." Potesne bibere

Hark 10. ^^^^^^^ hunc^ saith self-love ? and can you get it down, think

*®- you? Yea, Itbentissimey "exceeding gladly." There is the

conquest of self-love.

But all this while he lived still under hope, hope of win-
ning their love for whose sakes he had trod under foot the
love of himself; hope that it had been but impendam all the
while, he should have had returned his own again at least
But at this etsi all is turned out and in. For this is as much
to say as all is to little purpose ; for to his grief he must take
notice, they care for none of them, nor for him ever a whit
the more ; yea, rather the less by a great deal. So that all
three be in vain ; et supra omnem lahorem labor irritus, * no
labour to lost labour :' nor expense of life or goods to that is
spent in vain. For that is not impendaniy but perdam; not
spent, but cast away. Therefore the former, though it were
[Eccl. 4. funiculus triplexy ** a threefold cord," and not easily broken,
*■' would not hold but fly in pieces, but for this etsi. To

have then an etsi in our love; this etsiy this ei koX euc7}y
*^ though in vain,'' though our impendam prove a perdam ;
that is it To be able to turn the sentence and say, " though
the more I love the less I be loved, yet will I bestow ;" yea,
"be bestowed," and that "most gladly," for all that It
is hard, I confess; but Solus amor erubescit nomen difficult
tatisy ^ love endureth not the name of difficulty,' but shameth
to confess any thing too hard or too dangerous for it For

Sermons preached in Lent, 109

Tenly, unkindness is a mighty enemy, and the wounds of
it deep. Nay there be that of themselves are most kind in
all the three degrees before remembered, as was King David,
and as all noble natures are; why self-love is nothing in
their hands. But let them be encountered with unkindness,
as David was in Nabal, they cannot stand the stroke : it i Sam. 25.

, 10-42.

woundeth deep, and the fester of discontentment more dan-
gerous than it Indeed, saith David, " this fellow," I see, " I
have done all in vain for him, for he rewardeth me evil for
good ; so and so do God to me, if he be alive to-morrow by
this time." Mark it in him, and in others infinite ; and you
shall see, whom self-love could not, unkindness hath over-
come ; and who passed well along the other three, at mmus
dUHgar their love hath wracked, and from kind love been
turned to deadly hate.

Bat neither can this appal the Apostle, or dislodge his
love; but through all the rest, and through this too, he
breaketh vrith his etsiy and sheweth he will hold his resolu-
tion, maugre all unkindness. Mmus diligar shall not do
it; unkindness must yield, love will not.

And now we are come to the highest, and never till now,
but now we are; that farther we cannot go. The very
highest pitch of well-doing the heathen man saw in part; for
he could say, Beneficium dare et perdere, * to bestow love and Seneca.
lose it,' is well done ; but that is not it. This is it ; Ben^-
emm perdere, et dare, ^ to lose the first and yet bestow the
second '/ etsi, yea, though the first were lost

Yea, the love of loves, Christ's own love, what was it? Joh.i5.i3.
Majarem hdc charitatem nemo kabety quam ut vitam quis ponat
pro amicis. Whereto St Bernard rejoineth well, Tu majorem [S. Ber-
habmsti Domine^ quia Tu vitam posmsti etiam pro inimicis : germ, de
* Greater love than this hath no man, to bestow his lifeHebdom.
for his friends.' * Yet Lord,' saith St Bernard ; * Thou hadst Sanct]
greater, for Thou bestowedst Thy life for Thy very enemies/
And to this love it is that St Paul aspireth, and near it
he Cometh ; that in some sort we may likewise say to him,
Tu majorem habuisti Pauky * Yes thy love, Paul, was greater,
for thou art ready to do the like ; not for thine enemies, but
for thy unkind firiends, the next degree to professed enemies.
1. ** To spend ;" 2. « To spend and be spent ;" 8. " To spend

110 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. and be spent, and that most gladly." 4. Not only ** most

'■ — gladly ;" but " most gladly, yea though.'^

Thus you have now his double conquest : Over the love of
himself first ; and now, over minus diligar, an unkind repulse
loo. And, in sign of victory he setteth up his colours, even
these four; 1. Impendam, 2. Impendar^ 3. Libentissime, and
4. JStsi. But etsi is the chief; it is Christ's colour, and that
no perfect love that wanteth etsi.
II.. Thus we have seen love in his highest ascendant, and heard

of his love in his magisterium, the hardest and highest, and indeed
**^®' the master-point of this art. Which setteth us new on work,
to pass over into the second part, and to enquire what this object
may be, so amiable, whereon St. Paul hath set his affection so,
that for it he will do and suffer all this ; and that, so willingly
without any exception, so constantly without any giving over.
All this is nothing but the zeal of souls, zelus animarum
faciei hoc; it is for their souls, all this. For their souls ; and
let their bodies go.
1- . Which first draweth the diameter that maketh the partition

ffuSnts, between the two loves ; the love which St. Paul found, and
eouiJ*^" the love which St Paul left at Corinth. For he found that
which is scelus corporum, Uhe body's unruly afiection,' and infec-
tion too otherwhile ; — ^if ever in any place, there it abounded —
but he left zelus animarum^ the soul's perfection. Indeed, it
falleth out sometimes, that in carnal love, or rather lust than
love, we may pattern all the former; and find, as the Wise
Man speaketh, some one destitute of understanding, wasting
his whole substance, hazarding his life, and that more will-
ingly than wisely, perhaps to gain nothing but a scorn for
his labour, and yet persisting in his folly still ; and all this, in
the passion of concupiscence to a vain creature ; pleasing his
fancy to the displeasing of God, and to the piercing of his
soul one day with deep remorse for it; and except it do, to
the utter ruin both of body and soul. We have here at
Corinth, a strange example of it Of one, — ad cujus jacuit
LAIS. GrcBcia totaforesy *at whose doors, sundry of all sorts waited/
STenS." S"^"g »"d seeking, and as one of them said. Buying repent-
j Propert. ^nce at too dear a rate\ But what need we sail to Corinth?

Jib. 2. J 1 r • i»

El. 5. 2.]^ Even in our own age we have enow fond examples of it ; of
ixai'^vpUov love set awry and sorted amiss, diverted from the soul where

Sermons preached in Lent, 111

Lt should be bestowed^ and lavished on the body^ iiehere a ZpaxpAv

great deal less would serve. It is St. Augustine^s wish ; O si ^^^t

exdtare possemus homines et cum iis pariter excitariy ut tales

amatoresy 8fc. I * O that we would in this kind stir up others^

and ourselves with them be stirred up, but even to bestow

SQch love on the immortal soul, as we see daily cast away on

the corruptible body ! ' What, but so much, and no more 7

Absit tit sic, sed utinam vel sic/ ^ Till it might be more, would

God it were but as much in the mean time I ' Yet more, and

much more it should be. Sed infelix populvs Dei non habet

tanium fervorem in bono^ quantum mali in malo, is St Hierom's

complaint. ' But the people of God unhappy in this point,

hath not that courage or constancy in the love of the Spirit,

that the wicked world hath in the lust of the flesh.' That

courage ! Nay, nothing like. Ad erubescentiam nostram dicOj i Cor. 6. 5.

^to our shame it must be spoken." Look but to the first

point, impendam; doth not the body take it wholly up?

And, if we fail in the lowest, what shall become of the rest ?

Well, St. Paul's love is, and ours must be if it be right,

pro animabus, ''soul-love," which may serve for the first

point of the sequestration.

But why pro animabuSy what is there in the soul so lovely 2.
that all this should be said or done for it? Why for souls ? ^^^ ^^'
Why? 1. Why, take the soul out of the body which so much
we dote on, but even half an hour, and the body will grow so
out of our love, so deformed, so ugly, so every way loathsome,
as they that now admire it will then abhor it ; and they that
now cannot behold it enough, will not then endure once to
come near it, nor within the sight of it. This a natural man
would answer : The soul is to be regarded of the body, for it
maketh the body to be regarded. 2. But a Christian man
will say more for it. That the love of Christ must be the rule
of the love of Christians, and ours suitable to His. And
Christ hath valued the soul above the world itself, in direct
affirming that he, that to win the world hazards his soul. Mat 16. 26.
makes but an unwise bargain ; which bargain were wise
eDough, if the world were more worth. Appende animam
hcmoy saith Chrysostom, et impende in animam : * If you would
prize your souls better, you would bestow more on them.'
This is nothing. Christ hath valued your souls — valued and

112 Sermons preached in Lent.

S E R M. loVed tbem above Himself; Himself^ more worth than many

'■ — : worlds, yea, if they were ten thousand. I come now to

the point. Is Christ to be loved ? Why, all that St Paul .
hitherto hath professed, all and every part of it, it was but to the
souls at second-hand. His eye was upon Christ, all the time
of his profession. But because Christ hath by deed enrolled
set over His love to men's souls, and willed us toward them to
shew whatsoever to Him we profess ; therefore, and for no
other cause, it is, that he standeth thus affected. For that
those souls Christ so loved, that He loved not Himself to love
them. DilexUti me, Domine.plus quam 7>, quando mari voluisti
pro me — it is Augustine. * Dying for my soul, Lord, Thou
shewedst, that my soul was dearer to Thee, than Thine own
self.' In love then to Christ, we are to love them that Christ
loved — ^not stent Seipsum 'as Himself,' but p/z^^^z^am Seipsum,
'more than Himself;' and therefore hath changed the sicut
Mat.19.19. of the Law, sicut teipsum, *'as thyself," into a new sicut, sicut
Joh. 18.84. Effo vosy ''as I havc loved you." And how did He love us?
Even that He was the first that ever professed these four to
us, 1. Did bestow, 2. was bestowed, 3. most gladly, 4. yea
though the more He loved, the less we loved Him, Or, to
give Him His right, a degree higher than Paul ; not, when
Joh. 15. 24. we loved Him little, as faint friends, but hated Him greatly
as sworn enemies. For He it was that professed this art,
first The words are indeed Christ's own ; the primitive and
most proper uttering them, belongeth to Him. None ever so
fully or so fitly spake or can speak them, as the Son of God
Lu. 23. 84. on the cross, from the chair of His profession. And of Him
there St. Paul learned hoc carmen amoris. Himself confesseth
as much, in the fifth chapter of this Epistle, that it was love ;
not his own love, but Christ's love, charitas Christi extarsit,
that brought these words from Him. His they be not, but
ore tenus ; the tongue his, but Christ the speaker. His they
were ; His they are, out of whose mouth, or from whose pen,
soever they come.

We are come then now, where we may read love in the
very original ; yea, in the most complete perfection that ever
it was. Profitente Christo, 'Christ Himself, the professor,'
saith 1 . Impendam first ; bestow He will. If you will make
port-sale of your love, none shall outbid Him. Even whatso-

Sermons preached in Lent. 113

ever Himself is worthy He will bestow; His kingdom^ and
fte fulness of joy and glory in it for ever*

2. Impendar. That? why consummatum est^ it is done Jo1l19.8(
already ; all, hands and feet, head and heart, opened wide ;

and all, even to the last drop of blood bestowed for us on His
cross, where the love of souls triumphed over the love of His
own life.

3. lAbeniissime, '* most gladly." Witness that speech ; " A Lu. 12. 5C
baptism I have to be baptized with,'' and quomodo coarctar,
^how am I pained till I be at it !'* And that too, that to him

that moved Him not to bestow, but favour Himself, He used no
other terms than to the devil himself, ^' Avoid Satan/' Proof Hatl6.2a
enough, say I, how willingly He went, and how unwillingly
He would be kept from it.

4. And for His etsi, would God it were not too plain I Both
at His cross, where the louder their crucifige^ with the more
strong crying and tears He prayed Pater ignosce; and ever Lu. 28. M
since, usque hodie, * till now,* when all may see our regard is as

little as His love great, and He respected as if He had done
nothing for us. Every part of His love, and the profession of
His love, but specially the etsi of His love passeth all. For
Christ by deed enrolled hath set over His love to them.
Which b that that setteth such a price upon them^ and
maketh them so amiable, if not in their own kindness and
loveliness, yet in the love of Christ Himself. And it is the
answer that David when he loseth his sleep, to think upon Ps. 132. 4.
the people of God; that Moses, when he wearieth himself in Ex. is. 14
hearing causes from morning to night; that Joshua, when he ^^'^^
fighteth the Lord's battles, and jeopards his life in the high
places of the field ; that any that wears and spends himself in
the common cause, may make as well as St Paul. Why it
is pro animabusj ** it is for souls," for safeguard of souls —
those souls which Christ hath so dearly loved, and so dearly
bought, and to our love so carefully commended : Sicut Ego
vos, as He did or ever shall do for us, that we do for them.
Whereto, if not the souls themselves, for the most part un-
thankful, yet this motive of love, of Christ's love, doth in a
manner violently constrain us. For though nothing is less
violent in the manner, yet in the work nothing worketh more
violent than it

1 14 Sermons preached in Lent

SERM. I conclude then with St Bernard's demand: Qua vero

VI

utiUtas in sermone hoc 9 ' What use have we of all that hath

The iq>pli-

cation. been said ? For he that wrote it is dead, and they to whom
it was written are gone; but the Scripture still remainethi
and we are to take good by it.

1. It serveth first to possess our souls of that excellent virtue,

1 Cor. 18. Major horum^ " the greatest of the three ;" nay, the virtue

without which the rest be but ciphers ; the virtue that shineth
brightest in Christ's example, and standeth highest in His
commendation, love.

2. But love, the action of virtue, not the passion of vice.
PUl. a 21. Love, not of the body, the " vile body" — so the Holy Ghost
Pro. 6. 26. termeth it — but of the soul, " the precious soul" of man. Love

of souls; the more, the more acceptable. If of a city, well;
if of a county, better; if of a country or kingdom, best
ofalL

8. And for them, and for their love, to be ready to prove
it by St Paul's trial; to open our impendam^ to vow our
impendar, and as near as may be to aspire to the same degree
of libentissime. Verily, they that either, as the Apostle, for
the winning of souls ; or for the defence and safety of souls,
many thousands of souls, the souls of an whole estate, in high
and heroical courage have already passed their impendam;
and are ready to offer themselves every day to impendar, and
with that resolute forwardness which we all see, for it is
a case presently in all our eyes ; they that do thus, no good
can be spoken of their love answerable to the desert of it.
Heavenly it is, and in Heaven to receive the reward.

4. But when all is done, we must take notice of the world's
nature. For, as St Paul left it, so we shall find it, that is, we
shall not perhaps meet with that regard we promise ourselves.
St. Paul's maffis diligam met with a minus diligar.

Therefore above all remember his etsi. For to be kind, and
that to the unkind ; to know, such we shall meet with ; yea,
to meet with them, and yet hold our etsi, and love never-
theless; this certainly is that love, mqjorem qud nemo; and
there is on earth no greater sign of a soul throughly settled in
the love of Christ, than to stand thus minded. Come what
will come, m>agis or minus^ si or etsiy frown or favour, respect

2 Cor. 11. or neglect ; Quodfacioy hoc etfaciam, " What I do, I will do,"

Sermons preached in Lent. 115

vith eye to Christy with hope of regard from Him^ let
the world be as it is> and as it ever hath been.

Samuel, this day in the first Lesson^ when he had spent his
life in a well-ordered government that his very enemies
could no ways except to^ in his old days was requited with
foe nobis Regem, only upon a humour of innovation. What
then? Grew he discontent? No^ non obstante^ for all their i Sam. a 5.
ingratitude, good man, this he professeth, *^ God forbid," i Sam. 12.
saith he, ^' I should sin in ceasing to pray for you ; yea, I will *
shew you the good and right way of the Lord for all that."
That may serve to match this out of the Old Testament
For here in like sort we have Paul's mintis diligar before our
eyes; and we see, he is at his libentissime etsi for all that
You learn then, as that minus diligar may come, so in case it
do come, what to do ; even to consummate your love with a
triumph over unkindness. Learn this, and all is learned;
learn this, and the whole art is had.

And we have in this verse, and in the very first word of it,
that will enter us into this lesson.

First from ego vera. From his, and from our own persons, i.
we may begin to raise this duty. When we were deep in our
minus diligar y and smally regarded Christ; nay, cum imiraici Bom. 6. lo.
essemusy to take as we should, " when we were His enemies,"
of His over-abundant kindness it pleased Him to call us from
the blindness of error to the knowledge of His truth ; and
from a deep consumption of our souls by sin, to the state of
health and grace. And if St Paul were loved when he raged Acts 9. i.
and breathed blasphemy against Christ and His Name, is it
much if for Christ's sake he swallow some unkindness at the
Corinthians' hands? Is it much if we let fall a duty upon
them, upon whom God the Father droppeth His rain, and
God the Son drops, yea sheds His blood, virkp cuxapio^ov^ /cal Lu. 6. 86.
irovrjpoif^y ** upon evil and unthankful men ?*'

Surely if love, or well-doing, or any good must peridi, 2.
which is the second motive, and be lost throu^ some body's
default where it lighteth, much better it is that it perish in
the Corinthians' hands, than in Paul's ; by them in their evil
receiving, than by him in his not bestowing; through their
unkindness, than through our abruptness. For so, the sin

i2

1 16 Sermons precLched in Lent.

S E R H. shall be theirs, and we and our souls innocent before God.
-?J^ Impendatur per no,, pereat per iUos.

But perish it shall not, which is the third point, though for
them it may. For howsoever of them it may be truly said,
* The more we love, the less they ;' of Christ it never can, nor
ever shall be sai«L For St. Paul, for the little love at their
hands, found the greater at His. Though the more he loved,
the less they loved him ; yet the less they loved, the more
Christ loved him. Of Whom to be loved, even in the least
degree, is worth all the love of Corinth, and all Achaia too.
So that here we find that we missed all this while a tamen for
our etsu Though not they, yet Christ Which tamen maketh
amends for all. JSt vigilanti verba tisus est Apostolus; that
St. Paul spoke not at adventure, but was well advised when
he used the word impendam. For it is impendam indeed, not
perdam; not lost, but laid out; not cast away, but employed
on Him, for Whose love none ever hath or shall bestow aught,
but he shall receive a super-impendar of an hundred-fold.
And indeed, all other loves of the flesh, or world, or whatso-
ever else, shall perish and come to nothing ; and of this, and
this only, we may say impendam truly.

So that, to make an end, though true it be that St. Bernard

[S. Ber- saith, JPerfectus amor vires nan sumit de spe^ * Perfect love

Pc^i. receives no manner strength from hope ;' yet for that our love

• "** ®^-i is not without his imperfections, all under one view we may

with one eye behold Christ's maffis diligamy when we were

scarce in our minus^ nay scarce loved Him at all ; and with

the other look upon impendam, that what we do herein,

though at men's hands we find no return, at Christ's we shall,

and it shall be the best bestowed service that ever we

bestowed, that we bestow in this kind.

Now, would God, the same Spirit which here wrote this
verse would write it in our hearts, that those things are thus ;
that such a rependam there shall be, and we well assured of it,
ut et nos converteremur in amorem, Uhat we might be trans-
formed into this love !' Which blessing, Almighty God
bestow on that which hath been said, for Christ's, &c I

SERMONS

PREACHED UPON GOOD-FRIDAY.

A SERMON

PREACHED AT THE COURT,

ON THE TWENTY- riFTH OF MABCH, AJ). MDXCVII. BEING OOOD-FRIDAT.

Zechariah xii. 10.

And they shall look upon Me^ Whom they have pierced,

Respicient in Me, Quern iransfixerunt,

[And they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced. Engl. Trans.]

That great and honourable person the Eunuch^ sitting in
his chariot, and reading a like place of the Prophet Esay,
asketh St. Philip, " I pray thee. Of Whom speaketh the Acu 8. 84.
Prophet this? of himself, or some other?'' A question very
material, and to great good purpose, and to be asked by us in
all prophecies. For knowing who the party is, we shall not
wander in the Prophet's meaning.

Now, if the Eunuch had been reading this of Zachary, as
then he was that of Esay, and had asked the same question
of St. Philip, he would have made the same answer. And as
he out of those words took occasion, so may we out of these
take the like, to preach Jesus unto them. For neither of
himself, nor of any other, but of Jesus, speaketh the Pro-
phet this; and ^Uhe testimony of Jesus is the spirit of this Rey.i9.io.
prophecy."

That so it is the Holy Ghost is our warrant. Who in
St John's Gospel reporting the Passion, and the last act of
the Passion — this opening of the side, and piercing of the
heart — our Saviour Christ saith plainly, that in the piercing
the very words of the prophecy were fulfilled, Respicient in Me Joh. 19.87.
Quern tran^fixerunt.

120 Of the Passion.

S £ RM. Which term of piercing we shall the more clearly conceive,

if with the ancient writers, we sort it with the beginning

of Psalm 22, the Psalm of the Passion. For, in the very
front or inscription of this Psalm, our Saviour Christ is com-
pared cervo matutinoy *' to the morning hart ;" that is, a hart
roused early in the morning, as from His very birth He was
by Herod, hunted and chased all His life long, and this day
brought to His end, and, as the poor deer, stricken and
pierced through side, heart, and all; which is it we are here
willed to behold.

There is no part of the whole course of our Saviour Christ's
life or death but it is well worthy our looking on, and from
each part in it there goeth virtue to do us good ; but of all
other parts, and above them all, this last part of His piercing
is here commended unto our view. Indeed, how could
the Prophet commend it more, than in avowing it to be
an act of grace, as in the fore part of this verse he doth?

[Zech. 12. Effundam super eos Spiritum GratifBy et respicienty ^c, as if he
'^ should say ; If there be any grace in us, we will think it

worth the looking on.

Neither doth the Prophet only, but the Apostle also, call

Heb. 12.2. us unto it, and willeth us what to "look unto" and re-
gard, "Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith." Then
specially, and in that act, when for " the joy of our salvation
set before Him He endured the cross, and despised the
shame;" that is, in this spectacle, when He was pierced.

Which surely is continually, all our life long, to be done by
us, and at all times some time to be spared unto it ; but if at
other times, most requisite at this time, this very day which
we hold holy to the memory of His Passion, and the piercing
of His precious side. That, though on other days we employ
our eyes otherwise, this day at least we fix them on this
object, respicientes in Eum. This day, I say, which is dedi-

Joh. 8. 14 cated to none other end, but even to lift up the Son of Man,
as Moses did the serpent in the wilderness, that we may look
upon Him and live ; when every Scripture that is read soundeth
nothing but this unto us, when by the office of preaching
Jesus Christ is lively described in our sight, and as the

GaL 8. 1. Apostle speaketh, is " visibly crucified among us ;" when in

1 Cor. 11. the memorial of the Holy Sacrament, " His death is shewed

26.

Of the Passion. 121

forth until He come,** and the mystery of this His piercing
80 many ways, so effectually represented before us. This
prophecy therefore, if at any time, at this time to take place,
Bespicient in Me, ^c.

The principal words are but two, and set down unto us in The di-
two points. I. The sight itself, that is, the thing to be seen ; ^*
IL and the sight of it, that is, the act of seeing or looking.
Q^em tramfixerunt is the object, or spectacle propounded.
Bespicient in Eum, is the act or duty enjoined.

Of which the object though in place latter, in nature is the
former, and first to be handled ; for that there must be a
thing first set up, before we can set our eyes to look upon it.

Of the object generally, first. Certain it is, that Christ is -.^ ^
here meant : St John hath put us out of doubt for that point, or object
And Zachary here could have set down His name, and said, fTchriiL'
Respice in Christum ; for Daniel before had named his name, ^"^ ^* ^^
Occidetur Messias; and Zachary, being after him in time,
might have easily repeated it. But it seemed good to the
Holy Ghost and to him, rather to use a circumlocution ; and
suppressing His name of Christ, to express Him by the style
or term, Quem transfixerunt Which being done by choice,
must needs have a reason of the doing, and so it hath.

1. First, the better to specify and particularize the Person
of Christ, by the kind, and most peculiar circumstance, of His
death. Esay had said, Morietury ^' Die He shall, and lay down Isa. 68. lo.
His soul an offering for sin.'' 2. Die — but what death? a
natural or a violent? Daniel tells us, Occidetur; He shall die, Dan. 9. 26.
not a natural, but a violent death. 3. But many are slain
after many sorts, and divers kinds there be of violent deaths.
The Psalmist, the more particularly to set it down, describeth it
thus : '* They pierced My hands and My feet ;" which is only Ps. 22. 16.
proper to the death of the Cross. 4 Die, and be slain, and
be crucified. But sundry else were crucified ; and therefore
the Prophet here, to make up all, addeth, that He should not
only be crucifixusy but transfixus; not only have His hands
and His feet, but even His heart pierced too. Which very
note severs Him firom all the rest, with as great particularity
as may be ; for that, though many besides at other times, and
some at the same time with Him were crucified, yet the side
and the heart of none was opened, but His, and His only.

122 Of the Passion.

8 E R M. 2. Secondly, as to specify Christ Himself in Person, and to
2. Christ ^ever Him from the rest ; so in Christ Himself, and in His
pierced. Person, to sever from the rest of His doings and sufferings,
what that is that chiefly concerneth us, and we specially are
to look to; and that is this day's work — Christ pierced.
1 Cor. 2. 2. St. Paul doth best express this : " I esteemed," saith he, " to
know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him cruci-
fied." That is, the perfection of our knowledge is Christ;
the perfection of our knowledge in, or touching Christ, is the
knowledge of Christ^s piercing. This is the chief sight ; nay,
as it shall after appear, in this sight are all sights; so that
know this, and know all. This generally.
2. Now, specially. In the object, two things offer themselves ;

specially. 1. The Passion, or suffering itself, which was, to be "pierced."
• iQ^ 2. And the persons, by whom. For if the Prophet had not
1&^' intended the Persons should have had their respect too, he
might have said Respident in JSum Qui transfixus est; — ^which
passive would have carried the Passion itself foil enough —
but so he would not, but rather chose to say. Quern transfix-
erunt; which doth necessarily imply the piercers themselves
too. So that we must needs have an eye in the handling,
both to the fact, and to the persons, 1. quidy and 2. quibusy
both what, and of whom.

1. The In the Passion, we first consider the degree ; for transfix-

de CTree

thereof: erunt is a word of gradation, more than fixerunt, or suffixerunt,
erttnlf^" or confixerunt either. Expressing unto us the piercing, not
with whips and scourges ; nor of the nails and thorns, but of
the spear-point. Not the whips and scourges, wherewith His
skin and flesh were pierced ; nor the nails and thorns where-
with His feet, hands, and head were pierced ; but the spear-
point which pierced, and went through. His very heart it-
Joh. 19. 34. self; for of that wound, of the wound in His heart, is this
spoken. Therefore trans is here a transcendent — through and
through; through skin and flesh, through hands and feet,
through side and heart, and all; the deadliest and deepest
wound, and of highest gradation.

2. The ex- Secondly, as the preposition trans hath his gradation of

divers degrees, so the pronoun me hath his generality of
divers parts; best expressed in the original. ^^Upon Me;"
not, upon My body and^ soul. " Upon Me" Whose Person,

Of the Passion. 123

dot Whose partSy either body without^ or soul within ; but
"upon Me," Whom wholly, body and soul, quick and dead,
"they have pierced."

Of the body's piercing there can be no question, since no i. His
part of it was left unpierced. Our senses certify us of that — ^'
what need we farther witness ?

Of the soul's too. it is as certain, and there can be no doubt 2. His
of it neither ; that we truly may affirm, Christ, not in part, ^
but wholly, was pierced. For we should do injury to the
snfFerings of our Saviour, if we should conceive by this
piercing none other but that of the spear.

And may a soul then be pierced? Can any spear-point
go through it? Truly Simeon saith to the blessed Virgin
by way of prophecy, that " the sword should go through her Lu. 2. 86.
soul,'^ at the time of His Passion. And as the sword through
hers, so I make no question but the spear through His. And
if through hers which was but anima compatientis^ through
His much more, which was anima patientis ; since compassion
is but passion at rebound. Howbeit, it is not a swprd of
steel, or a spear-head of iron, that entereth the soul, but a
metal of another temper ; the dint whereof no less goreth
and woundeth the soul in proportion, than those do the
body. So that we extend this piercing of Christ farther than
to the visible gash in His side, even to a piercing of another
nature, whereby not His heart only was stabbed, but His
very spirit wounded too.

The Scripture recounteth two, and of them both expressly
saith, that they both pierce the soul. The Apostle saith it
by sorrow: "And pierced themselves through with many iTim.e.io.
sorrows." The Prophet, of reproach: "There are whose Ps. 64. 3, 4.
words are like the pricking of a sword ;" and that to the soul
both, for the body feels neither. With these, even with both
these, was the soul of Christ Jesus wounded.

For sorrow — it is plain through all four Evangelists ; Un- With sor-
digue tristis est anima Mea usque ad mortem I "My soul isMrt.26 38
environed on every side with sorrow, even to the death.'' Mark 14.
C(£pit Jesus t(Bdere et pavere^ " Jesus began to be distressed Mark 14.
and in great anguish." Factus in agonidy "being cast into?^* „^
an agony." Jam turbata est anima Mea; " Now is My soul Joh.i2.27.
troubled." Avowed by them all, confessed by Himself. Yea,

124 Of the Passion.

S E B If. that His strange and never else heard of sweat— drops rf i

• — blood plenteously issuing from Him all over His body, what -

time no manner of violence was offered to His body, no man '■^'
then touching Him, none being near Him ; that blood came '-'^
certainly from some great sorrow wherewith His soul was -
pierced. And that His most dreadfril cry, which at once 2

Mat.27.46. moved all the powers of Heaven and earth, "My God, My .
God, &c." was the voice of some mighty anguish, wherewith :
His soul was smitten ; and that in other sort, than with any i:
material spear. For dereUnqui a Deo — the body cannot feel l
it, or tell what it meaneth. It is the souFs complaint, and there- .
fore without all doubt His soul within Him was pierced and :
suffered, though not that which — except charity be allowed 2
to expound it — cannot be spoken without blasphemy . Not so i
much, God forbid I yet much, and very much, and much more <
than others seem to allow ; or how much, it is dangerous to define.

With re- To this edge of sorrow, if the other of piercing despite be
added as a point, as added it was, it will strike deep into any
heart ; especially, being wounded with so many sorrows be-
fore. But the more noble the heart, the deeper; who beareth
any grief more easily than this grief, the grief of a contume-

Ps. 69. 26. lious reproach. " To persecute a poor distressed soul, and to
seek to vex Him that is already wounded at the heart," why,
it is the very pitch of all wickedness ; the very extremity that
malice can do, or affliction can suffer. And to this pitch
were they come, when after all their wretched villanies and
spittings, and all their savage indignities in reviling Him most
opprobriously. He being in the depth of all His distress, and
for very anguish of soul crying, Eliy Eli, SfC, they stayed
those that would have relieved Him ; and void of all humanity

Mat27.49. then scorned, saying ; " Stay, let alone, let us see if Elias
will now come and take Him down." This barbarous and
brutish inhumanity of theirs, must needs pierce deeper into
His soul, than ever did the iron into His side.

To all which if we it add, not only that horrible ingratitude
of theirs, there by Him seen, but ours also no less than
theirs by Him foreseen at the same time ; who make so slender
reckoning of these His piercings, and, as they were a matter
not worth the looking on, vouchsafe not so much as to spend
an hour in the due regard and meditation of them ; nay, not

Of the Passion. 125

that only, but farther by incessant sinning^ and that without
lemoTse^ do most unkindly requite those His bitter pains^ and
as much as in us lies, ''even crucify afresh the Son of God, Heb. 6. 6.
maUng a mock of Him and His piercings." These I say, for
tiiese all and every of them in that instant were before His
eyes, must of force enter into, and go through and through
His soul and spirit ; that what with those former sorrows,
and what with these after indignities, the Prophet might truly
Bay of Him, and He of Himself, in Me, " upon Me ;" not
whose body or whose soul, but whom entirely and wholly,
both in body and soul, alive and dead, they have pierced and
pasrioned this day on the cross.

Of the persons ; — which, as it is necessarily implied in the 2. The
word, is very properly incident to the matter itself. For it is S^fSJS.
usual, when one is found slain as here, to make enquiry, By
whom he came by his death. Which so much the rather is
to be done by us, because there is commonly an error in the
world, touching the parties that were the causes of Christ's
death. Our manner is, either to lay it on the soldiers, that
were the instruments ; or if not upon them, upon Pilate the
judge that gave sentence ; or if not upon him, upon the peo-
ple that importuned the judge ; or lastly, if not upon them,
upon the Elders of the Jews that animated the people ; and
this is all to be found by our quest of enquiry.

But the Prophet here indicted others. For by saying,
"They shall look," &c., "Whom they have pierced," he
mtendeth by very construction, that the first and second
" They," are not two, but one and the same parties. And
that they that are here willed to look upon Him, are they and
none other that were the authors of this fact, even of the
murder of Jesus Christ. And to say truth, the Prophet's
intent is no other but to bring the malefactors themselves that
pierced Him, to view the body and the wounded heart of
Him, " Whom they have so pierced."

In the course of justice we say, and say truly, when a
party is put to death, that the executioner cannot be said to
be the cause of his death ; nor the sheriff, by whose com-
mandment he doth it ; neither yet the judge by whose sen-
tence; nor the twelve men by whose verdict; nor the law
itself, by whose authority it is proceeded in. For, God forbid

126 Of the Passion.

S £ R M. we should indict these, or any of these, of murder. Solum ■-_
'- peccatum homicida ; sin, and sin only, is the murderer. Sin, ^

I say, either of the party that sufiereth ; or of some other, by
whose means, or for whose cause, Jie is put to death.

Now, Christ's own sin it was not that He died for. That

Job. 8. 46. is most evident. Not so much by His own challenge, Quis ex

Lu. 28. 14, vobis arguit Me de peccato ? as by the report of His judge,
who openly professed that he had examined Him, and '^ found
no fault in Him." " No, nor yet Herod," for being sent to him
and examined by him also, nothing worthy death was found

Mat 27.24. in Him. And therefore, calling for water and washing his
hands he protesteth his own innocency of the blood of this
"Just Man;" thereby pronouncing Him Just, and void of
any cause in Himself of His own death.

It must then necessarily be the sin of some others, for
whose sake Christ Jesus was thus pierced. And if we ask,
who those others be ? or whose sins they were ? the Prophet

l8a.5d.4-6. Esay tells us, Posuit super Eum iniquitates omnium nostrUm^
" He laid upon Him the transgressions of us all ;" who should,
even for those our many, great, and grievous transgressions,
have eternally been pierced, in body and soul, with torment
and sorrows of a never-dying death, had not He stepped
between us and the blow, and received it in His own body;
even the dint of the wrath of God to come upon us. So that
it was the sin of our polluted hands that pierced His hands,
the swiftness of our feet to do evil that nailed His feet, the
wicked devices of our heads that gored His head, and the
wretched desires of our hearts that pierced His heart. We
that ** look upon," it is we that " pierced Him j" and it is we
that "pierced Him,^^ that are willed to "look upon Him."
Which bringeth it home to us, to me myself that speak, and
to you yourselves that hear : and applieth it most effectually
to every one of us, who evidently seeing that we were the
cause of this His piercing, if our hearts be not too hard,
ought to have remorse to be pierced with it

When, for delivering to David a few loaves, Abimelech and
the priests were by Saul put to the sword, if David did then

1 Sam. 22. acknowledge with grief of heart and say, " I, even I, am the
cause of the death of thy father and all his house j" — ^when he
was but only the occasion of it, and not that direct neither —

Of the Passion. 127

inay not we, nay ought not we much more justly and •
deservedly say of this piercing of Christ our Saviour, that we
verily, even we, are the cause thereof, as verily we are, even
the principals in this murder; and the Jews and others,
on whom we seek to derive it, but only accessories and instru-
mental causes thereof. Which point we ought as continually,
80 seriously to think of; and that no less than the former.
The former, to stir up compassion in ourselves, over Him that
thus was pierced; the latter, to work deep remorse in our
hearts, for being authors of it. That He was pierced, will
make our bowels melt with compassion over Christ. That
He was pierced by us that look on Him, if our hearts be not
"flint," as Job saith, or as "the nether mill-stone," will breed Job 41. 24.
remorse over ourselves, wretched sinners as we are.
The act folio we th in these words : Respicient in Eum, A n.

The act

request most reasonable, to " look upon Him" — but " to look To look
upon Him," to bestow but a look and nothing else, which '^^'^ ^"^'
even of common humanity we cannot deny, Qv,ia non aspicere
despicere est. It argueth great contempt, not to vouchsafe it
the cast of our eye, as if it were an object utterly unworthy
the looking toward. Truly, if we mark it well, nature itself
of itself inclineth to this act. When Amasa treacherously was
dain by Joab, and lay weltering in his blood by the way side,
the story saith that not one of the whole army, then march-
ing by, but when he came at him, " stood still and looked on 2 Sam. 20.
him.'' ^^•

In the Gospel, the party that goeth from Jerusalem to
Jericho was spoiled and wounded and lay drawing on, though
the Priest and Levite that passed near the place relieved him
not, as the Samaritan after did ; yet it is said of them, they
" went near and looked on," and then passed on their way. Lu. 10. 32.
Which desire is even natural in us; so that even nature
itself inclineth us to satisfy the Prophet.

Nature doth, and so doth Grace too. For generally we are
bound to " regard the work of the Lord, and to consider the Ps. 28. 5.
operations of His hands;" and specially this work, in com-
parison whereof God Himself saith, the former works of His
'^ shall not be remembered, nor the things done of old once l8a.4S. I8.
regarded."

Yea Christ Himself, pierced as He is, inviteth us to it.

]

128 Of the Passion.

8 E R M* For in the Prophet here it is not in Eum^ but in Me ; not * cm
Him/ but " on Me Whom they have pierced." But more fiilly

in Jeremy ; for^ to Christ Himself do all the ancient writers
apply, and that most properly, those words of the Lamenta-

Lun. 1. 12. tion ; '' Have ye no regard all ye that pass by this way ?
Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like My sorrow, which
is done unto Me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted Me in
the day of His fierce wrath.''

Our own profit, which is wont to persuade well, inviteth

Na.21.8,9. us; for that as fi-om the brazen serpent no virtue issued to
heal but unto them that steadily beheld it, so neither doth
there fix)m Christ but upon those that \(dth the eye of faith
have their contemplation on this object ; who thereby draw
life from Him, and without it may and do perish, for all
Christ and His Passion.

And if nothing else move us, this last may, even our
danger. For the time will come when we ourselves shall
desire, that God looking with an angry countenance upon our
sins, would turn His face firom them and us, and look upon
the face of His Christ, that is, respicere in JEum ; which shall
justly be then denied us, if we ourselves could never be gotten
to do this duty, respicere in Euniy when it was called for of us.
God shall not look upon Him at ours. Whom we would not
look upon at His request.

In the act itself are enjoined three things : 1. That we do
it with attention; for it is not Me^ but in Me; not only
*' upon Him,'' but " into Him." 2. That we do it oft, again
and again, with iteration ; for respicient is re-aspicienL Not
a single act, but an act iterated. 3. That we cause our
nature to do it, as it were, by virtue of an injunction, per
actum elicitumy as the schoolmen call it For in the original
it is in the commanding conjugation, that signifieth,^c2^iz^ se
respicere^ rather than respicient.
1- First then, not slightly, superficially or perfunctorily, but

tention. stedfastly, and with due attention, to ^Mook upon Him."

^^^^ And not to look upon the outside alone, but to look into the
very entrails; and with our eye to pierce Him That was thus
pierced. In Eum beareth both.

1. "Upon Him" if we *'look," we shall see so much
as Pilate shewed of Him; — ecce Homo, that He is a Man.

Of the Passim. 129

And if He were not a man, but some other unreasonable
creature, it were great ruth to see Him so handled.

2. Among men we less pity malefactors, and have most
compassion on them that be innocent And He was innocent,
and deserved it not, as you have heard. His enemies them-
selves being His judges.

3. Among those that be innocent, the more noble the
person, the greater the grief, and the more heavy ever is the
spectacle. Now if we consider the verse of this text well, we
shall see it is God Himself and no man that here speaketh, for
to God only it belongeth to *'pour out of the Spirit of grace,*'
it passeth man's reach to do it ; so that, if we look better
upon Him, we shall see as much as the Centurion saw, that

this party thus pierced "is the Son of God." The Son of Mat 27.64.
God slain ! Surely he that hath done this deed " is the child 2 Sam. 12.

ft 7

of death," would every one of us say ; Et tu es homoy " Thou " *
art the man^" would the Prophet answer us. You are they, P See the
for whose sins the Son of God hath His very heart-blood
shed forth. Which must needs strike into us remorse of
a deeper degree than before ; that not only it is we that have
pierced the party thus found slain, but that this party, whom
we have thus pierced, is not a principal person among the chil-
dren of men, but even the only-begotten Son of the Most
High God. Which will make us cry out with St. Augustine,
amaritudo peccati meiy ad quam tollendam necessaria fuit
amaritudo tanta 1 ' Now sure, deadly was the bitterness of our
sins, that might not be cured, but by the bitter death and
blood-shedding Passion of the Son of God.' And this may
we see looking upon Him.

But now then, if we look in Euniy " into Him," we shall see
yet a greater thing, which may raise us in comfort, as far as
the other cast us down. Even the bowels of compassion and
tender love, whereby He would and was content to suffer all
this for our sakes. For that, whereas "no man had power to Joh.io.i8,
take His life from Him," for He had power to have com-
manded twelve legions of Angels in His just defence; and Mat.26.68.
without any Angel at all, power enough of Himself with His
Effo sum^ to strike them all to the ground ; He was content Job. is. 6.
notwithstanding all this, to lay down His life for us sinners.
The greatness of which love passeth the greatest love that

K

130 Of the PaBdan.

SERH. man hath; for ^'greater love than this hath no man, but
to bestow his life for his friends," whereas He condescended

to lay it down for His enemies. Even for them that sought
His death, to lay down His life, and to have His blood shed
for them that did shed it; to be pierced for His piercers.
Look how the former in Eum worketh grief^ considering the
great injuries offered to so great a Personage ; so, to temper
the grief of it^ this latter in Eum giyeth some comfort, that so
great a Person should so greatly love us, as for our sakes
to endure all those so many injuries, even to the {nercing of
His very heart
2, Secondly, respicienty that is, re-aspicient ; not once or twice,

ratfon^^' but oftentimes to look upon it ; that is, as the Prophet saith
^j^" here, iteratis vicibus^ to look again and again; or, as the
Heb. 12.8. Apostle saith; recoffitare, ^^to think upon it over and over
again," as it were to dwell in it for a time. In a sort, with the
freqnentness of this our beholding it, to supply the weakness
and want of our former attention. Sorely, the more steadily
and more often we shall fix our eye upon it, the more we
shall be inured ; and being inured, the more desire to do it.
For at every looking some new sight vrill offer itself, which
will offer unto us occasion, either of godly sorrow, true
repentance, sound comfort, or some other reflection, issuing
firom the beams of this heavenly mirror. Which point,
because it is the chief point, the Prophet here calleth us to,
even how to look upon Christ often, and to be the better for
our looking ; it shall be very agreeable to the text, and to
the Holy Ohost^s chief intent, if we prove how, and in how
diverse sorts, we may with profit behold and **look upon
Him" Whom thus we have " pierced."
i.Betpice First then, looking upon Him, we may bring forth the
fi^^*" first effect that which immediately foUoweth this text itself
in this text, JSt plangent Eum: — Respice et plange. First,
'look and lament,' or mourn; which is indeed the most
kindly and natural effect of such a spectacle. '^ Look upon
Him that is pierced,'' and with looking upon Him be pierced
thyself; respice et transfigere. A good effect of our first look,
if we could bring it forth. At leastwise, if we cannot respice
et transfigere^ *look and be pierced,' yet that it might be
respice et comptmgere, * that with looking on Him we might be

Of the Passion. 181

'^pricked in oar hearts/" and have it enter past the skin, Acts 2. 87.

though it go not clean through. Which difference in this

Terse the Prophet seemeth to insinuate, when first he willeth

us to mourn as for one's only son, with whom all is lost. Or,

if that cannot be had, to mourn as for a first-begotten son,

which is though not so great, yet a great mourning ; even for

the first-begotten, though other sons be left.

And, in the next verse, if we cannot reach to natural Zech. 12.

11
grief, yet he wisheth us to mourn with a civil; even with

such a lamentation as was made for Josias. And behold
a greater than Josias is here. Coming not, as he, to an
honourable death in battle, but to a most vile death, the
death of a malefactor ; and not, as Josias, dying without any
fault of theirs, but mangled and massacred in this shameful
sort for us, even for us and our transgressions. Verily, the
dumb and senseless creatures had this effect wrought in them,
of mourning at the sight of His death; in their kind sor-
rowing for the murder of the Son of God. And we truly
shall be much more senseless than they, if it have in us
no work to the like effect. Especially, considering it was not
for them He suffered all this, nor they no profit by it, but
for us it was, and we by it saved ; and yet they had compas*
sion, and we none. Be this then the first.

Now, as the first is respice et transfigere^ Mook upon Him 2. ReapUx
and be pierced;' so the second may be, and that fitly, respice * ''^^•
et transfigcy Mook upon Him and pierce;' and pierce that in
thee that was the cause of Christ's piercing, that is, sin and
the lusts thereof. For as men that are pierced indeed with
the grief of an indignity offered, withal are pricked to take
revenge on him that offers it, such a like affection ought our
second looking to kindle in us, even to take a wreak or
revenge upon sin, quia fecit hocy * because it hath been the
cause of all this.' I mean, as the Holy Ghost termeth it, a
mortifying or crucifying; a thrusting through of our wicked
passions and concupiscences, in some kind of repaying those
manifold villanies, which the Son of God suffered by means
of them. At leastwise, as before, if it kindle not our zeal so
far against sin, yet that it may slake our zeal and affection to
sin ; that is, respice ne respicias, respice Christum ne respicias
peccatum. That we have less mind, less liking, less acquaint-

k2

132 Of the Passion.

S E R M. ance with sin, for the Passion-sake. For that by this means
we do in some sort spare Christ, and at least make His

wounds no wider ; whereas by affecting sin anew we do what
in us lleth to crucify Him afresh, and both increase the
number, and enlarge the wideness of His wounds.

It is no unreasonable request, that if we list not wound sin,
yet seeing Christ hath wounds enough, and they wide and
deep enough, we should forbear to pierce Him farther, and
have at least this second fruit of our looking upon Him;
either to look and to pierce sin, or to look and spare to pierce
Him any more.

Now, as it was sin that gave Him these wounds, so it was
love to us that made Him receive them, being otherwise able
enough to have avoided them all. So that He was pierced
with love no less than with grief, and it was that wound of
love made Him so constantly to endure all the other. Which
love we may read in the palms of His hands, as the Fathers
Isa. 49. 16. express it out of Esay 49. 16 ; for *^ in the palms of His hands
He hath graven us," that He might not forget us. And the
print of the nails in them, are as capital letters to record His
love towards us. For Christ pierced on the cross is liber
cliaritatisy * the very book of love' laid open before us. And
again, this love of His we may read in the cleft of His heart.
[S. Ber- Quia clavus penetrans /actus est nobis clavis reserans^ saith
per Cant. Bernard, ut pateant nobis viscera per vulnera; 'the point of
d^in^] *^^ spear serves us instead of a key, letting us through His
wounds see His very bowels,' the bowels of tender love and
most kind compassion, that would for us endure to be so
entreated. That if the Jews that stood by said truly of Him
Joh.ii.S6. at Lazarus' grave, Ecce quomodo dilexit eum/ when He shed
a few tears out of His eyes ; much more truly may we say of
Him, Ecce quomodo dilexit nos I seeing Him shed both water
and blood, and that in great plenty, and that out of His heart.
s.-«e^e Which sight ought to pierce us with love too, no less than
before it did with sorrow. With one, or with both, for both
have power to pierce ; but specially love, which except it had
entered first and pierced Him, no nail or spear could ever
have entered. Then let this be the third, respice et dilige;
*look and be pierced with love of Him' that so loved thee,
that He gave Himself in this sort to be pierced for thee.

Of the Passion. 138

And forasmuch as it is Christ His Ownself That, resembling 4.
His Passion on the cross to the brazen serpent lift up in the anSeT
wilderness, maketh a correspondence between their beholding
and our believing — for so it is John 3. 14. — we cannot avoid, Joh. 8. 14,
but must needs make that an effect too ; even respice et crede.
And well may we believe and trust Him, Whom looking a
little before we have seen so constantly loving us. For the
sight of that love maketh credible unto us, whatsoever in the
whole Scripture is affirmed unto us of Christ, or promised in His
Name ; so that believe it, and believe all. Neither is there

anytime wherein with such cheerfulness or fulness of faith we

cry unto Him, '*My Lord, and My God," as when our eye is Joh.20.28.

fixed upon ** the print of the nails, and on the hole in the side"

of Him that was pierced for us. So that this fourth duty

Christ Himself layeth upon us, and willeth us from His own

mouth, respice et crede.

And believing this of Him, what is there the eye of our ?•
hope shall not look for from Him ? What would not He do ^pera,
forus. That for us would suffer all this ? It is St. PauPs argu-
ment, ''If God gave His Son for us, how shall He deny us Rom. 8. 82.
any thing with Him ?" That is, respice et spera. * Look upon
Him, and His heart opened, and from that gate of hope pro-
mise thyself^ and look for all manner of things that good are.'
Which our expectation is reduced to these two: 1. The
deliverance from evil of our present misery; 2. and the
restoring to the good of our primitive felicity. By the death
of this undefiled Lamb, as by the yearly Passover, look for
and hope for a passage out of Egypt, which spiritually is our
redemption from the servitude of the power of darkness. And
as by the death of the Sacrifice we look to be freed from
whatsoever evil, so by the death of the High Priest look we
for and hope for restitution to all that is good ; even to our
forfeited estate in the land of Promise which is Heaven itself,
where is all joy and happiness for evermore. Respice et spera,
*look and look for;' by the Lamb that is pierced to be freed
from all misery, by the High Priest that is pierced fruition of
all felicity.

Now, inasmuch as His heart is pierced, and His side jj?* .
opened ; the opening of the one, and the piercing of the nape,
other, is to the end somewhat may flow forth. To which •

134 Of the Passion.

S £ R M. end, saith St Augustine, Vigilanti verba usus est ApostduSi

' ' the Apostle was well advised when he used the word

pust. Tract, opening ;' for there issued out " water and blood," which make
120.]*°^ the sixth effect, Respice et recipe. Mark it running out,
Poh.19. and suffer it not to run waste, but receive it. Of the
former, the water, the Prophet speaketh in the first words of
Zech.181 . the next chapter, that out of His pierced side God "opened
a fountain of water to the House of Israel for sin and for un-
cleanness;" of the fulness whereof we all have received in the
Sacrament of our Baptism. Of the latter, the blood, which
Zech.9.11. the Prophet, in the ninth chapter before, calleth "the blood
of the New Testament,'' we may receive this day ; for it will
run in the high and holy mysteries of the Body and Blood of
Christ There may we be partakers of the flesh of the
P8.116.18. Morning Hart, as upon this day killed. There may we be
iPet.1.19. partakers of "the cup of salvation," "the precious blood"
Mat. 26.28. "which was shed for the remission of our sins." Our part it
Heb.10.29. shall be not to account " the blood of the Testament an
unholy thing,'' and to suffer it to run in vain for all us, but
with all due regard to receive it so running, for even there-
fore was it shed. And so to the former to add this sixth,
Respice et recipe,
7. And shall we alway receive grace, even streams of grace

^^J^^' issuing from Him That is pierced, and shall there not from us
issue something back again, that He may look for and receive
from us that from Him have, and do daily, receive so many
good things? No doubt there shall, if love which pierced
Him have pierced us aright. And that is, no longer to hold
you with these effects, Respice et retribue. For it will even
behove us, no less than the Psalmist, to enter into the con-
Ps.ii6.i2. sideration oi quid retribuam. Especially since we by this day
[Mat.- 13. both see and receive that, which he and many others desired
to see, and receive, and could not. Or if we have nothing
[Lu.17.16.] to render, yet ourselves to return with the Samaritan, and
falling down at His feet, with a loud voice, to glorify His
goodness. Who finding us in the estate that other Samaritan
found the forlorn and wounded man, healed us by being
wounded Himself, and by His own death restored us to life.
For all which His kindness if nothing will come fi'om us, not
so much as a kind and thankful acknowledgment, we are

Of the Passion. 135

ceitainly worthy He should restrain the fountain of His

bmefits, which hitherto hath flowed most plenteouslj, and

neither let us see nor feel Him any more.

Bat I hope for better things— that love, such and so great
lore, will pierce us, and cause both other fruits, and especially
thoughts of thankfulness to issue from us. Thus many, and
many more if the time would serve, but thus many several
lees may we have of thus many several respects, or reflexed
lookings upon Him Whom we have pierced.

Thirdly, ^/5w»g«/ se respicere. For the Holy Ghost did easily 8.
foresee, we would not readily be brought to the sight, or to foiUtnent
Bse our eyes to so good an end. Indeed, to flesh and blood ^j^™*
! it is but a dull and heavy spectacle. And neither willingly -Bcytcere
they begin to look upon it, and having begun are never well
till they have done and look off of it again. Therefore is the
verb by the Prophet put into this conjugation of purpose,
which to turn in strict propriety is respicere se facienty rather
than respicient * They shall procure or cause, or even enjoin
or enforce themselves to look upon it ^' or, as one would say,
look that they look upon it.

For some new and strange spectacle, though vain and idle,
and which shall not profit us how strange soever, we cause
ourselves sometimes to take a journey, and besides our pains
are at expenses too to behold them. We will not only look
upon, but even cause ourselves to look upon vanities ; and in
them, we have the right use otfacient se respicere. And why
should we not take some pains, and even enjoin ourselves to
look upon this, l)eing neither far off, nor chai^eable to come
to, and since the looking on it may so many ways so mainly
profit us? Verily it falleth out oft, that of Christ's; violenti Maun,l2.
rapiunt iUud^ nature is not inclined, and where it is not
inclined, force must be offered, which we call in schools
actum elicitum. Which very act by us undertaken for God,
and as here at His word, is unto Him a sacrifice right accept-
able. Therefore /aczew, or fac facias; *do it willingly, or do
it by force.' Do it, I say, for done it must be. Set it before
you and look on it ; or if you list not, remove it, and set it full
before you : though it be not with your ease, respice^ * look back
upon it' with some pain ; for one way or other, look upon it
we must.

186 Of the Passion.

8 E B M. The necessity whereof, that we may the better apprehend

■ — it, it will not be amiss we know, that these words are in two

Job. 19.87. sundry places two sundry ways applied. 1. Once by St. John
in the Gospel, 2. and the second time again by Christ Him-
self in the Revelation. By St. John to Christ at His first
coming, suffering as our Saviour upon the cross. By Christ
to Himself at His second coming, sitting as our Judge upon
Bev. 1. 7. His throne, in the end of the world : *^ Behold He cometh
in the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, yea, even they
that pierced Him ;" et plangent se super Eum mnnes gentes
terrcB, The meaning whereof is, Look upon Him here if you
will; enjoin yourselves if you think good, either here or
somewhere else ; either now or then, look upon Him you
shall. And they which put this spectacle far from them here,
and cannot endure to ^Mook upon Him Whom they have
pierced," et plangere Eum^ ** and be grieved for Him," while
it is time; a place and time shall be, when they shall be
enforced to look upon Him, whether they will or no, et plan-
gent se super Eum^ * and be grieved for themselves,' that they
had no grace to do it sooner. Better compose themselves to
a little mourning here, with some benefit to be made by their
beholding, than to be drawn to it there when it is too late,
and when all their looking and grieving will not avail a whit.
For there respidentes respiciet, et despicientes despidet ; * His
look shall be amiable to them that have respected His piercing
here, and dreadful on the other side to them that have
neglected it' And as they that have inured themselves to
Lu. 21. 28. this looking on here, shall in that day " look up and lift up
their heads with joy, the day of their redemption being at
hand;*' so they that cannot bring themselves to look upon
Him here, after they once have looked upon Him there, shall
not dare to do it the second time, but cry to the mountains,
Rev. 6. 16. "Fall upon us, and to the hills. Hide us from the face of Him
That sits upon the throne.'* Therefore, respicient is no evil
counsel. No, though it hefacient se respicere.

In a word, if thus causing ourselves to fix our eyes on Him
we ask. How long we shall continue so doing, and when we
may give over? let this be the answer; Donee totus Jixus
in corde^ Qui totus Jixus in cruce. Or if that be too much or
too hard, yet salteniy ^ at the least,* respice in Ilium donee Ille te

Of the Passion. 187

respexerity *Look upon Hiin till He look upon you again.'

For so He will He did upon Peter, and with His look La. 22. 61.

melted him into tears. He that once and twice before denied

Him and never wept, because Christ looked not on him,

then denied and Christ looked on him, and '^ he went out and

wept bitterly." And if to Peter thus He did, and vouchsafed

him so gracious a regard, when Peter not once looked

toward Him, how much more shall He not deny us like

&vour, if by looking on Him first we provoke Him in a sort

to a second looking on us again, with the Prophet, saying ;

Proposui Dominum coram me, * I have set Thee, O Lord, before Ps. 16. 8,

me ;' and again, Respice in me, ^c. ^^ O look Thou upon me, Ps.! 19.182.

and be merciful unto me, as Thou usest to do to those that

love Thy Name." " That love Thy Name," which is Jesus, ^* a

Saviour;" and which love that sight wherein most properly

Thy Name appeareth, and wherein thou chiefly shewest

Thyself to be Jesus " a Saviour."

And to conclude, if we ask. How we shall know when
Christ doth thus respect us ? Then truly, when fixing both
the eyes of our meditation "upon Him That was pierced," — as
it were one eye upon the grief, the other upon the love
wherewith He was pierced, we find by both, or one of these,
some motion of grace arise in our hearts ; the consideration of
His grief piercing our hearts with sorrow, the consideration of
His love piercing our hearts with mutual love again. The
one is the motion of compunction which they felt, who when
they heard such things " were pricked in their hearts." The Acts 2. 87.
other, the motion of comfort which they felt, who, when
Christ spake to them of the necessity of His piercing, said ;
"Did we not feel our hearts warm within us?" That, from Lu. 24.82.
the shame and pain He suffered for us ; this, from the com-
forts and benefits He thereby procured for us.

These have been felt at this looking on, and these will be
felt. It may be at the first, imperfectly, but after with deeper
impression ; and that of some, with such as nemo scit, ^ none
knoweth,' but He that hath felt them. Which that we may
endeavour to feel, and endeavouring may feel, and so grow
into delight of this looking, God, &c.

A SERMON

PBSACBBD BSrOBS THB

KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE SIXTH OF APBIL, A.D. MDCIV., BETNO OOOD-FBIDAY.

Lamentations i. 12.

Have ye no regard^ O all ye that pass by the way ? Consider^
and behold^ if ever there were sorrow like My sorrow^ which
was done unto Me^ wherewith the Lord did afflict Me in the
day of the fierceness of His wrath.

[0 vos omnes, qui Iransitis per viam, attendite et videte si est dolor
sicut dolor Mens : quoniam vindemiavit Me ut locutus est Dominus
in die irte furor is Sui. Lat. Vulg.]

[Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? Behold, and see if there be
any sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted Me in the day of His fierce anger, £ngl.
Trans.]

S £ R M. At the very reading or hearing of which verse, there is

' — none but will presently conceive, it is the voice of a party in

A com- great extremity. In great extremity two ways: 1. First, in
^ ^ such distress as never was any, " If ever there were sorrow

like My sorrow ;" 2. And then in that distress, having none

to regard Him ; " Have ye no regard, all ye ?"

To be afflicted, and so afflicted as none ever was, is very

much. In that affliction, to find none to respect him or care

for him, what can be more ? In all our sufferings, it is a com-
1 Cor. 10. fort to us that we have a sicut ; that nothing has befallen us,

but such as others have felt the like. But here, sifuerit sicut;

" If ever the like were" — that is, never the like was.

Again, in our greatest pains it is a kind of ease, even to

find some regard. Naturally we desire it, if we cannot be

Of the Passion. 139

delivered, if we cannot be relieved, yet to be pitied. It Job 19. SL
sheweth there be yet some that are touched with the sense of
our misery, that wish us well, and would give us ease if they
could. But this Afflicted here findeth not so much, neither
the one nor the other ; but is even as He were an out-cast
both of Heaven and earth. Now verily an heavy case, and
worthy to be put in this book of Lamentations.

I demand then, " Of whom speaketh the Prophet this ? of CJhrist's
himself, or of some other ?" This I find ; there is not any of the
ancient writers but do apply, yea in a manner appropriate,
this speech to our Saviour Christ And that this very day,
the day of His Passion, truly termed here the day of God's
wrath, and wheresoever they treat of the Passion, ever this
verse cometh in. And to say the truth, to take the words
strictly as they lie, they cannot agree, or be verified of any
but of Him, and Him only. For though some other, not
unfitly, may be allowed to say the same words, it must be in
a qualified sense ; for in full and perfect propriety of speech.
He and none but He. None can say, neither Jeremy, nor
any other, sifuerit dolor Meusy as Christ can ; no day of wrath
like to His day, no sorrow to be compared to His, all are
short of it, nor His to any, it exceedeth them all.

And yet, according to the letter, it cannot be denied but
they be set down by Jeremy in the person of his own people,
being then come to great misery ; and of the holy city, then
laid waste and desolate by the Chaldees. What then ? Ex Hob. li. i.
Mgypto vocavi FiUum Meum, " out of Egypt have I called My
Son," was literally spoken of this people too, yet is by the Mat 2. 16.
Evangelist applied to our Saviour Christ. " My God, my God, Ps. 22. i.
why hast Thou forsaken me ?" at the first uttered by David ;
yet the same words our Saviour taketh Himself, and that Mat27.46.
more truly and properly, than ever David could ; and of
those of David's, and of these of Jeremy's, there is one and
the same reason.

Of all which the ground is that correspondence which is
between Christ, and the Patriarchs, Prophets, and people
before Christ, of whom the Apostle's rule is, omnia in figurd icor.io.ii.
contingebant illis; "that they were themselves types," and
their sufferings forerunning figures of the great suffering of
die Son of God. Which maketh Isaac's offering, and Joseph's

140 Of the Passion.

8KRM. selling, and IsraePs calling from Egypt, and that complaint of
David's, and this of Jeremy's, appliableto Him; that He may

take them to Himself, and the Church ascribe them to Him, and
that in more fitness of terms, and more fulness of truth, than
they were at the first spoken by David, or Jeremy, or any of
them all.

And this rule, and the steps of the Fathers proceeding by
this rule, are to me a warrant to expound and apply this
verse, as they have done before, to the present occasion of
this time ; which requireth some such Scripture to be con-
sidered by us as doth belong to His Passion, Who this day
poured out His most precious Blood, as the only sufficient
price of the dear purchase of all our redemptions.

Be it then to us, as to them it was, and as most properly it
is, the speech of the Son of God, as this day hanging on
the cross, to a sort of careless people, that go up and down
without any manner of regard of these His sorrows and suffer-
ings, so worthy of all regard. " Have ye no regard ? O all
ye that pass by the way, consider and behold, if ever there
were sorrow like to my sorrow, which was done unto me,
wherewith the Lord afflicted me in the day of the fierceness
of His wrath."
The parts. Here is a complaint, and here is a request A complaint
that we have not, a request that we would have the pains and
Passions of our Saviour Christ in some regard. For first He
complaineth, and not without cause, " Have ye no regard ?"
And then, as willing to forget their former neglect, so they
will yet do it. He falleth to entreat, '*0 consider and
behold 1"

And what is that we should consider ? The sorrow which
He suffereth, and in it two things; the quality, and the
cause. 1. The quality, Si fuerit sicut ; ' if ever the like
were;' and that either in respect of Dolor y or Dolor MeuSy
* the sorrow suffered,' or * the Person suffering.' 2. The cause :
that is God That in His wrath, in His fierce wrath, doth all
this to Him. Which cause will not leave us, till it have led
us to another cause in ourselves, and to another yet in
Him ; all which serve to ripen us to regard.

These two then specially we are moved to regard. 1. Re-
gard is the main point. But because therefore we regard but

Of the Passion. 141

faintly, because either we consider not, or not aright, we are
called to consider seriously of them. As if He should say,
Begard you not ? If you did consider, you would ; if you
considered as you should, you would regard as you ought.
Certainly the Passion, if it were throughly considered,
would be duly regarded. Consider then.

So the points are two: 1. The quality, and 2. the cause of I.
His suffering. And the duties two: 1. To consider, and ni.
regard ; 2. So to consider that we regard them, and Him ^^*
for them.

" Have ye no regard,^^ &c. ? To ease this complaint, and The par-
to grant this request, we are to regard ; and that we ma; ^t^,
regard, we are to consider the pains of His Passion. Which, " ^ *^^ y«
that we may reckon no easy common matter of light moment, bytheway,
to do or not to do as we list ; first, a general stay is made of
all passengers, this day. For, as it were from His cross, doth
our Saviour address this His speech to them that go to and
fro, the day of His Passion, without so much as entertaining a
thought, or vouchsafing a look that way. O vos qui transitis I
" O you that pass by the way," stay and consider. To them
frameth He His speech, that pass by ; to them, and to them
all, O vos omnesy qui transitisy " O all ye that pass by the way,
stay and consider.''

Which very stay of His sheweth it to be some important
matter, in that it is of all. For, as for some to be stayed, and
those the greater some, there may be reason ; the most part
of those that go thus to and fro, may well intend it, they
have little else to do. But to except none^ not some special
person, is hard. What know we their haste ? their occasions
may be such, and so urgent, as they cannot stay. Well, what
haste, what business soever, pass not by, stay though. As
much to say as. Be they never so great, your occasions ; they
are not, they cannot be so great as this. How urgent soever,
this is more, and more to be intended. The regard of this is
worthy the staying of a journey. It is worth the considering
of those, that have never so great affairs in hand. So material
is this sight in His account. Which serveth to shew the
exigence of this duty. But as for this point, it needeth not be
stood upon to us here at this time ; we are not going by, we
need not be stayed, we have stayed all other our affairs

142 Of the Passim.

SERBL to come hither, and here we are all present before God,
to have it set before us, that we may consider it. Thither

then let us come.
Sorrow. That which we are called to behold and consider, is

His sorrow. And sorrow is a thing which of itself nature
Heb. 18. 8. inclineth us to behold, " as being ourselves in the body," which

may be one day in the like sorrowful case. Therefore will

every good eye turn itself, and look upon them that lie

1. Behold, in distress. Those two in the Gospel that passed by the
"* • * wounded man, before they passed by him, though they

helped him not as the Samaritan did, yet they looked upon
Joh. 8. 14. him as he lay. But, this party here lieth not. He is lift up as

the serpent in the wilderness, that unless we turn our eyes

away purposely, we can neither will nor choose but behold

Him.

But because, to behold and not to consider is but to gaze.
Acts 1. 11. and gazing the Angel blameth in the Apostles themselves, we

2. Con- must do both — both '' behold" and " consider :" look upon
** ^' with the eye of the body, that is " behold /' and look into

with the eye of the mind, that is " consider." So saith the
Prophet here. And the very same doth the Apostle advise
us to do. First, d(f>opav, to look upon Him, that is, to

Heb. 12. 2. '< behold," and then avaXoyl^eaOac, to think upon Him, that
is, to "consider" His sorrow. Sorrow sure would be con-
sidered.

The qua- Now then, because as the quality of the sorrow is, accord-

litiv if ever x ./ ^

the 'like, ingly it would be considered — for if it be but a common sor-
row the less will serve, but if it be some special, some very
heavy case, the more would be allowed it ; for proportionably
with the suffering, the consideration is to arise ; — to raise our
consideration to the full, and to elevate it to the highest
point, there is upon His sorrow set a si fuerit sicuty a note of
highest eminency ; for si fuerit sicvt, are words that have life
in them, and are able to quicken our consideration, if it be
not quite dead ; for by them we are provoked, as it were, to
"consider,^^ and considering to see whether ever any sicut
may be found to set by it, whether ever any like it.

For if never any, our nature is to regard things exceeding
rare and strange ; and such as the like whereof is not else to
be seen. Upon this point then, there is a case made, as if

Of the Passion. 143

Be should say, ^ if ever the like^ regard not this ;' but if never

mj, be like yourselves in other things, and vouchsafe this, if
not your chiefest, yet some regard.

To enter this comparison, and to shew it for such. That In the
ire we to do^ three sundry ways ; for three sundry ways, in Jms^
three sundry words, are these sufferings of His here expressed, ^"^^•
all three within the compass of the verse.

The first is iifioo, Mac-cb^ which we read *' sorrow," taken i.
fi:om a wound or stripe, as all do agree.

The second is \h\% Gkolel; we read "Done to me,'^ taken 2.
from a word that signifieth melting in a furnace, as St Hierome
Doteth out of the Chaldee, who so translateth it

The third is piiin, Hoga^ where we read afflicted, from a «.
word which importeth renting off, or bereaving. The old Latin fNot the
tumeth it Vindemiavit wie, as a vine whose fruit is all plucked an iAx'.^of
off. The Greek, with Theodoret, aTre^uXXtcri /i€, as a vine or ^^®**P'
tree whose leaves are all beaten off, and is left naked and bare*, however

In these three are comprised His sufferings — wounded, as does
melted, and bereft leaf and fruit, that is, all manner of ^^-.
comfort

Of all that is penal, or can be suffered, the common division 1. Of the
is, sensus et damniy grief for that we feel, or for that we forego. First *of
For that we feel in the two former, wounded in body, melted ?** ^^'

' *> ' SIOQ.

ia soul ; for that we forego in the last, bereft all, left neither

fruit nor so much as a leaf to hang on Him.
According to these three, to consider His sufferings, and to 1. Poma

b^n first with the first The pains of His body, His wounds thTbody.

and His stripes.

Our very eye will soon tell us no place was left in His
body, where He might be smitten and was not. His skin
and flesh rent with the whips and scourges. His hands and
feet wounded with the nails, His head with the thorns, His
very heart with the spear-point ; all His senses, all His parts
laden with whatsoever wit or malice could invent. His
blessed body given as an anvil to be beaten upon with the
violent hands of those barbarous miscreants, till they brought
Him into this case of sifuerit sicut For Pilate's JEcce Homo ! joh. 19. 6.
his shewing Him with an Ecce, as if he should say, Behold,
look if ever you saw the like rueful spectacle; this very

* The words Fmdemiavit and &«'c^\Aurc (^«^.) apply to Gholel, not to Hoga,

144 Of the Passion,

SERM. shewing of his sheweth plainly^ He was then come into

:: — woeful plight — so woeful as Pilate verily believed His veiy

sight so pitiful^ as it would have moved the hardest heart of
them all to have relented and said, This is enough, we desire
no more. And this for the wounds of His body, for on this
we stand not.
2. Poena In this oue peradventure some sicut may be found, in the
the soul, pains of the body ; but in the second, the sorrow of the soul,
I am sure, none. And indeed, the pain of the body is but
the body of pain ; the very soul of sorrow and pain is the
souPs sorrow and pain. Give me any grief, save the grief of
Pro. 18. 14. the mind, saith the Wise Man; for, saith Solomon, '^The
spirit of a man will sustain all his other infirmities, but a
wounded spirit, who can bear?" And of this, this of His
soul, I dare make a case, Sifuerit sicut
Joh. 12^27. **He began to be troubled in soul," saith St. John; "to
Lu. 22. 44. be in an agony,'' saith St Luke ; ** to be in anguish of mind
Marki4.83. and deep distress," saith St. Mark. To have His soul round
Mat. 26.88. ^bout on every side environed with sorrow, and that sorrow
to the death. Here is trouble^ anguish, agony, sorrow, and
deadly sorrow ; but it must be such, as never the like : so it
was too.

The estimate whereof we may take from the second word
Lu. 22. 44. of melting, that is, from His sweat in the garden ; strange,
and the like whereof was never heard or seen.

No manner violence offered Him in body, no man touch-
ing Him or being near Him; in a cold night, for they were
fain to have a fire within doors, lying abroad in the air and
upon the cold earth, to be all of a sweat, and that sweat to
be blood ; and not as they call it diaphoreticus, ^ a thin faint
sweat,' but grumosusy ' of great drops ;' and those so many, so
plenteous, as they went through His apparel and all; and
through all streamed to the ground, and that in great
abundance ; — read, enquire, and consider, si fuerit sudor sicut
sudor iste; * if ever there were sweat like this sweat of His.'
Never the like sweat certainly, and therefore never the like
sorrow. Our translation is, " Done unto Me ;" but we said
the word properly signifieth, and so St. Hierome and the
Chaldee paraphrast read it, " melted Me." And truly it should
seem by this fearful sweat of His He was near some furnace,

Of the Passion. 145

the feeling whereof was able to cast Him into that sweat, and

to torn His sweat into drops of blood. And sure it was so ;

ibr see, even in the very next words of all to this verse. He

complaineth of it ; Ignem misit in ossibus meis, " that a fire Lam. i. is.

was sent into His bones" which melted Him, and made that

bloody sweat to distil from Him. That hour, what His

feelings were, it is dangerous to define ; we know them not,

we may be too bold to determine of them. To very good

pmpose it was, that the ancient Fathers of the Greek Church

in their Liturgy, after they have recounted all the particular

pains, as they are set down in His Passion, and by all, and by

every one of them called for mercy, do after all shut up all

with this, ^c ayv(OGT&v K&iri»)v koI ^acavi»)v iKkqcrov kcu acoaov

^fia^, *By Thine unknown sorrows and sufferings, felt by

Thee, but not distinctly known by us. Have mercy upon us,

and save us I'

Now, though this suffice not, nothing near, yet let it suffice,
the time being short, for His pains of body and soul. For
those of the body, it may be some may have endured the
like ; but the sorrows of His soul are unknown sorrows, and
for them none ever have, ever have or ever shall suffer the
like, the like, or near the like in any degree.

And now to the third. It was said before, to be in distress, s.
such distress as this was, and to find none to comfort, nay not ^^•
so much as to regard Him, is all that can be said to make His
sorrow a non sicut Comfort is it by which, in the midst of
all our sorrows, we are confortati^ that is strengthened and
made the better able to bear them all out. And who is there,
even the poorest creature among us, but in some degree
findeth some comfort, or some regard at some body^s hands ?
For if that be not left, the state of that party is here in the
third word said to be like the tree, whose leaves and whose
fruit are all beaten off quite, and itself left bare and naked
both of the one and of the other.

And such was our Saviour's case in these His sorrows this i.
day, and that so as what is left the meanest of the sons of ^®*^®**
men, was not left Him, not a leaf. Not a leaf! Leaves I
may well call all human comforts and regards, whereof He
was then left clean desolate. 1. '*His own," they among [joh.i.ii.]
whom He had gone about all His life long, healing them.

146 0/ the Passion.

S £ R M. teaching them, feeding theni, doing them all the good He could,
— j7 — it is they that cry, "Not Him, no, but Barabbas rather;'^ "away
Withered with Him," " His blood be upon us and our children." It is

leftvefl*

Joh. 18.4a ^^^y ^hat in the midst of His sorrows shake their head at Him,
Joh. 19.16. and cry, "Ah, thou wretch;^' they that in His most discon-
^.27^25. gQig^e estate cry Eli, Eli, in most barbarous manner, deride
29. 86. Him and say, " Stay and you shall see Elias come presently
and take Him down.^* And this was their regard.
2. But these were but withered leaves. They then that on

Green

leaves. earth were nearest Him of all, the greenest leaves and likest
to hang on, and to give Him some shade; even of them
some bought and sold Him, others denied and forswore Him,
but all fell away, and forsook Him. *Air&f>vX7ua€ fte, saith
Theodoret, not a leaf left.

^rmt But leaves are but leaves, and so are all earthly stays.

The fruit then, the true fruit of the Vine indeed, the true
comfort in all heaviness, is destiper, 'from above,' is divine
consolation. But Viademiavit Me, saith the Latin text ; — even
that was, in this His sorrow, this day bereft Him too. And
that was His most sorrowful complaint of all others ; not that
His friends upon earth, but that His Father from Heaven had
forsaken Him ; that neither Heaven nor earth yielded Him
any regard, but that between the passioned powers of Bis
soul, and whatsoever might any ways refresh Him, there was
a traverse drawn, and He lefl in the state of a weather-beaten
tree, all desolate and forlorn. Evident, too evident, by that
His most dreadful cry, which at once moved all the powers

Mat.27.46. in Heaven and earth, " My God, My Grod, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?" Weigh well that cry, consider it well, and
tell me, sifuerit clamor sicut clamor iste, ' if ever there were cry
like that of His :' never^the like cry, and therefore never the
like sorrow.

It is strange, very strange, that of none of the martyrs the
like can be read, who yet endured most exquisite pains in
their martyrdoms; yet we see with what cours^e, with what
cheerfulness, how even singing, they are reported to have
passed through their torments. Will ye know die reason ?
St. Augustine setteth it down : mariytes non eripuit, sed nunqtidd
deseruit ? ^ He delivered not His martyrs, but did He forsake
them?' He delivered not their bodies, but He forsook not

Of the Passion* 147

their souls, but distilled into them the dew of His heavenly
comfort, an abundant supply for all they could endure. Not
80 here. Vindemiavit Me^ saith the Prophet ; DereliquisH Me^
saith He Himself; — no comfort, no supply at all.

Leo it is that first said it, and all antiquity allow of it, md. a
Non solvit unionemy sed subtraxit visionem. ^ The imion was passJDom.
not dissolved: true, but the beams, the influence was re-®®"^^'^'^
strained,' and for any comfort from thence His soul was
even as a scorched heath-ground, without so much as any
drop of dew of divine comfort ; as a naked tree — no fruit to
refresh Him within, no leaf to give Him shadow without;
the power of darkness let loose to afflict Him, the influence
of comfort restrained to relieve Him. It is a non sicvt this,
it cannot be expressed as it should, and as other things may ;
in silence we may admire it, but all our words will not reach
it. And though to draw it so far as some do, is little
better than blasphemy, yet on the other side to shrink it so
short as other some do, cannot be but with derogation to His
love. Who, to kindle our love and loving regard, would come
to a non sicut in His sufiering ; for so it was, and so we must
allow it to be. This, in respect of His passion, Dolor.

Now in respect of His Person, Dolor Mens. Whereof, if it Secondly,
please you to take a view even of the person thus wounded, uty of ^'
thus afflicted and forsaken, you shall then have a perfect non ^®^^^-
ncut And indeed the Person is here a weighty circum-
stance, it is thrice repeated — Meusy Mihi, Me, and we may
not leave it out. For as is the Person, so is the passion;
and any one, even the very least degree of wrong or disgrace,
offered to a person of excellency, is more than a hundred
times more to one of mean condition ; so weighty is the cir-
cumstance of the person. Consider then how great the
Person was ; and I rest fully assiured here we boldly challenge
and say, sifuerit sicut

Ecce Homo I saith Pilate first : a Man He is as we are, and t«
were He but a Man, nay, were He not a Man, but some poor
dumb creature, it were great ruth to see Him so handled as
He was.

" A Man,^' saith Pilate, and a "just Man," saith Pilate's wife. 2.
" Have thou nothing to do with that just Man.'^ And that is Mat27.i9.
one degree fSuther. For though we pity the punishment even

l2

148 Of the Passion.

S E R H. of malefactors themselves, yet ever most compassion we have of
them that suffer and be innocent. And He was innocent;

16. Pilate and Herod, and " the prince of this world," His very

° ■ enemies^ being His judges.

8. Now among the innocent, the more noble the person, the
more heavy the spectacle. And never do our bowels yearn

Jer. 22. 18. so much as over such. " Alas, alas for that noble Prince,"
saith this Prophet \ — the style of mourning for the death of a
great personage. And He that suffered here is such, even a
principal Person among the sons of men, of the race royal,

Joh.19.22. descended from Kings. Pilate styled Him so in his title, and

he would not alter it.

^ Three degrees. But yet we are not at our true quantus. For

He is yet more, more than the highest of the sons of men,

for He is the Son of the Most High God. Pilate saw no

Job. 19. 6. farther but Ecce Homo I the centurion did, vere Films Dei

Mar.15.39. erat HiCf "now truly This was the Son of God.*^ And here
all words forsake us, and every tongue becometh speechless.

We have no way to express it but a minore ad mqjus; —
thus. Of this book, the book of Lamentations, one special
occasion was the death of King Josias; but behold a greater
than Josias is here.

Of King Josias, as a special reason of mourning, the

Lam. 4. 20. Prophet saith, Spiriius oris nostril christus Domini^ " the very
breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed," for so are all
good Kings in their subjects* accounts, he is gone. But
behold, here is not christus Dominiy but Christus DominuSy

[Lu.2.11.] «the Lord's Christ," but the "Lord Christ Himself ;"' and that
not coming to an honourable death in battle as Josias did, but
to a most vile reproachful death, the death of malefactors in
the highest degree. And not slain outright as Josias was,
but mangled and massacred in most pitiful strange manner;
wounded in Body, wounded in Spirit, left utterly desolate.
O consider this well, and confess the case is truly put, sifuerit
Dolor sicut Dolor Mens 1 Never, never the like person ; and
if as the person is, the passion be, never the like Passion
to His.

It is truly affirmed, that any one, even the least drop
of blood, even the least pain, yea of the body only, of this so
great a Person, any Dolor with this Meus^ had been enough

Of the Passion. 149

to make a non stent of it That is enoagh, but that is not all ;
for add now the three other degrees; add to this Person
Aose wounds^ that sweat and that cry, and put all together,
and I make no manner question the like was not, shall not,
cannot ever be. It is far above all that ever was or can be,
abyssus est Men may drowsily hear it and coldly affect it,
but principalities and powers stand abashed at it And for
the quality both of the Passion and of the Person, that never
the like, thus much.

Now to proceed to the cause and to consider it, for i-
without it we shall have but half a regard, and scarce that, cause.
Indeed, set the cause aside, and the passion, as rare as it is,
is yet but a dull and heavy sight, we list not much look upon
spectacles of that kind, though never so strange, they fill us
full of pensive thoughts and make us melancholic. And so I.
doth this, till upon examination of the cause we find it
toucheth us near ; and so near, so many ways, as we cannot
choose but have some regard of it.

What was done to Him we see. Let there now be a quest of ^J^
enquiry to find who was doer of it. Who ? who but the " power
of darkness," wicked Pilate, bloody Caiaphas, the envious Lu. 22. 68.
Priests, the barbarous soldiers ? None of these are returned
here. We are too low by a great deal, if we think to find it
among men. Qu(B fecit Mihi Deus^ *it was God That did it,*
An hour of that day was the hour of the " power of dark-
ness ;** but the whole day itself, is said here plainly, was the
day of the wrath of God. God was a doer in it ; " wherewith
God hath afflicted Me.*'
God afflicteth some in mercy, and others in wrath. This God's

WTfttlla

was in His wrath. In His wrath God is not alike to all ;
some He afflicteth in His more gentle and mild, others in
His fierce wrath. This was in the very fierceness of His
wrath. His sufferings, His sweat, and cry, shew as much;
they could not come but fi'om a wrath si fuerit sicut, for we
are not past non sicut, no not here, — in this part it foUoweth
us still, and will not leave us in any point, not to the end.

The cause then in God was wrath. What caused this 2.
wrath ? God is not wroth but with sin, nor grievously wroth
but with grievous sin. And in Christ there was no grievous
sin; nay, no sin at all. God did it, the text is plain. And in Not His:

150 Of the Passion.

SEBM. His fierce wrath He did it. For what cause? For, God

II .

j^^-~-^ forbid, God should do as did Annas the high-priest, cause

Gen. 18.25. Him to be smitten without cause ! God forbid, saith
Abraham, " the Judge of the world should do wrong" to any !
To any, but specially to His own Son, that His Son, of
Whom with thundering voice from Heaven He testifieth, all

[Mat8.i7.] His joy and delight were in Him, " in Him only He was well-
pleased." And how then could His wrath wax hot to do ail
this unto Him ?

There is no way to preserve God's justice, and Christ's
innocency both, but to say as the Angel said of Him to the

Dan. 9. 26. Prophet Daniel, "The Messias shall be slain," iS }W ve-en-lo^

But other '^ shall be slain but not for Himself." "Not for Himself?" For

mens.

whom then ? For some others. He took upon Him the person
of others, and so doing, justice may have her course and
proceed.

Pity it is to see a man pay that he never took ; but if he
will become a surety, if he will take on him the person of the
debtor, so he must. Pity to see a silly poor lamb lie bleeding
to death ; but if it must be a sacrifice, such is the nature of
a sacrifice, so it must. And so Christ, though without sin in
Himself, yet as a surety, as a sacrifice, may justly suffer
for others, if He will take upon Him their persons; and
so God may justly give way to His wrath against Him.
Ours. And who be those others ? The Prophet Esay telleth us,

lsa.53.4-6. and telleth it us seven times over for failing, " He took upon
Him our infirmities, and bare our maladies. He was wounded
for our iniquities, and broken for our transgressions: the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His
stripes were we healed. All we as sheep were gone astray,
and turned every man to his own way ; and the Lord hath
laiduponHimthe iniquity of us all." "All," "alV^even those
that pass to and fro, and for all this regard neither Him nor
His Passion.

The short is, it was we that for our sins, our many great
and grievous sins, — Si fuerit sicuty the like whereof never
were, — should have sweated this sweat and have cried this cry ;
should have been smitten with these sorrows by the fierce
wrath of God, had not He stepped between the blow and us,
and latched it in His own body and soul, even the dint of the

Of the Passion. 151

fierceness of the wrath of God. O the non sicut of our sins^
that could not otherwise be answered 1

To return then a true verdict. It is we — ^we, wretched
sinners that we are — ^that are to be found the principals in
this act; and those on whom we seek to shift it, to drive it
from ourselves, Pilate and Caiaphas and the rest, but instru-
mented causes only. And it is not the executioner that
killeth the man properly, that is, they ; no, nor the judge,
which is Grod in this case ; only sin, solum peccatum homicida
est J 'sin only is the murderer,' to say the truth, and our sins
the murderers of the Son of God ; and the non sicut of them
the true cause of the non sicut both of God's wrath, and of
His sorrowfiil sufferings.

Which bringeth home this our text to us, even into our
own bosoms, and applieth it most effectually to me that speak
and to you that hear, to every one of us, and that with the
Prophet Nathan's application ; Tu es homo, " Thou art the
man," even thou, for whom God in "His fierce wrath" thus 2Sam. 12.7.
afflicted Him. Sin then was the cause on oiu: part why we,
or some other for us.

But yet what was the cause, why He on His part ? what ^
was that that moved Him thus to become our surety, and to
take upon Him our debt and danger ? that moved Him thus
to lay upon His soul a sacrifice for our sin ? Sure, oblatus est Isa. 53. 7.
quia voluity saith Esay again, "Offered He was for no other Vuigate.]
cause, but because He would." For unless He would. He
needed not. Needed not for any necessity of justice, for no
lamb was ever more innocent ; nor for any necessity of con-
straint, for twelve legions of Angels were ready at His com-
mand, but because He would.

And why would He ? No reason can be given but because
He regarded us : — Mark that reason. And what were we ?
Verily, utterly unworthy even His least regard, not worth the
taking up, not worth the looking after. Cum inimici essemus, Rym, 6. 8.
saith the Apostle ; " we were His enemies," when He did it,
without all desert before, and without all regard after He had
done and suffered all this for us; and yet He would regard
us that so little regard Him.* For when He saw us a sort of
forlorn sinners, non prius natos quam damnatos^ ^damned as
fast as born,' as being *^ by nature children of wrath/* and Eph. 2. 8.

152 Of the Passion,

S£ B M. yet still "heaping up wrath against the day of wrath,** by the
- — '- — errors of our life, till the time of our passing hence ; and then
' the "fierce wrath of God" ready to overwhelm us, and to
make us endure the terror and torments of a never dying
death, another non sicut yet: when, I say, He was in this
case. He was moved with compassion over us and undertook
all this for us. Even then in His love He regarded us, and
so regarded us that He regarded not Himself, to regard us.

Bernard saith most truly, DllexisH me Domine magis guam
Te, quando mori voluisti pro me : ' In suffering all this for us
Thou shewedst, Lord, that we were more dear to Thee, that
Thou regardest us more than Thine ownself ;' and shall this
regard find no regard at our hands ?

It was sin then, and the heinousness of sin in us, that pro-
voked wrath and the fierceness of His wrath in God ; it was
love, and the greatness of His love in Christ, that caused
Him to suffer the sorrows, and the grievousness of these
sorrows, and all for our sakes.

And indeed, but only to testify the non sicut of this His
love, all this needed not that was done to Him. One, any
one, even the very least of all the pains He endured, had
been enough ; enough in respect of the Meus^ enough in
respect of the non sicut of His person. For that which setteth
the high price on this sacrifice, is this; that He which
ofFereth it unto God, is God. But if little had been suffered,
little would the love have been thought that suffered so little,
and as little regard would have been had of it. To awake
our regard then, or to leave us excuseless, if we continue
regardless, all this He bare for us; that He might as truly
make a case of Si fuerit amor sicut amor Meus, as He did
before of Si fuerit dolor sicut dolor Meus. We say we will
regard love ; if we will, here it is to regard.

So have we the causes, all three : 1. Wrath in God; 2. Sin

in ourselves ; 3. Love in Him.

Oar bene- Yet have we not all we should. For what of all this ? What

PeJtoinV it good? Cui bono f That, that, is it indeed that we will regard

not to us? jf any thing, as being matter of benefit, the only thing in a

manner the world regardeth, which bringeth us about to the

very first words again. For the very first words which we

read, " Have ye no regard ?" are in the original, DD^^K K1^ lo

\

Of the Passion. 153

akchem, vrhicli the Seventy turn, word for word, oifirpo^ vfm^ ;
and the Latin likewise, nonne ad vos pertinet ? Pertains it not
to you, that you regard it no better ? For these two, pertain-
ing and regarding, are folded one in another, and go together
so commonly as one is taken often for the other. Then to be
sure to bring us to regard, he urgeth this : ^' Pertains not all
this to you?" Is it not for your good? Is not the benefit
yours? Matters of benefit, they pertain to you, and without
them love and all the rest may pertain to whom they will.

Consider then the inestimable benefit that groweth unto
you from this incomparable love. It is not impertinent this,
even this, that to us hereby all is turned about clean con-
trary ; that " by His stripes we are healed,^^ by His sweat we
refireshed, by His forsaking we received to grace. That this
day, to Him the day of the fierceness of God's wrath, is
to us the day of the fulness of God's favour, as the Apostle
calleth it, "a day of salvation." In respect of that He 2 Cor. 6. 2.
suflFered, I deny not, an evil day, a day of heaviness ; but in
respect of that which He by it hath obtained for us, it is as
we truly call it a good day, a day of joy and jubilee. For it
doth not only rid us of that wrath which pertaineth to us for
our sins ; but farther, it maketh that pertain to us whereto we
had no manner of right at all.

For not only by His death as by the death of our sacrifice,
by the blood of His cross as by the blood of the paschal
lamb, the destroyer passeth over us, and we shall not perish ; Ex. 12. 13.
but also by His death, as by the death of our High Priest — Nu. db. 25.
for He is Priest and Sacrifice both — we are restored firom our
exile, even to our former forfeited estate in the land of Promise.
Or rather, as the Apostle saith, non sicut delictum sic donum ; Rom. 5. 15.
not to the same estate, but to one nothing like it, that is,
one far better than the estate our sins bereft us. For they
deprived us of Paradise, a place on earth ; but by the pur-
chase of His blood we are entitled to a far higher, even the
Kingdom of Heaven; and His blood, not only the blood ofMat26.28.
" remission," to acquit us of our sins, but " the blood of the
Testament too," to bequeath us and give us estate in that
Heavenly inheritance.

Now whatsoever else, this I am sure is a non sicut, as that
which the eye by all it can see, the ear by all it can hear.

i

154 Of the Passion.

S E R H. the heart by all it can conceive, cannot pattern it, or set the

— like by it " Pertains not this unto us" neither ? Is not this

worth the regard? Sure if any thing be worthy the regard,
this is most worthy of our very worthiest and best regard.
The re- Thus have we considered and seen^ not so much as in this

tionofali. Sight we might or should, but as much as the time will give
us leave. And now lay all these before you, every one of
them a non sicut of itself; the pains of His body esteemed by
Pilate^s Ecce ; the sorrows of His soul, by His sweat in the
garden ; the comfortless estate of His sorrows, by His cry on
the cross ; and with these, His Person, as being the Son of
the Great and Eternal God. Then join to these the cause :
in God, " His fierce wrath ;" in us, our heinous sins deserving
it ; in Him, His exceeding great love, both suffering that for
us which we had deserved, and procuring for us that we could
never deserve ; making that to appertain to Himself which
of right pertained to us, and making that pertain to us which
pertained to Him only, and not to us at all but by His means
alone. And after their view in several, lay them all together,
so many ntm sicuts into one, and tell me if His complaint
be not just and His request most reasonable.
The com- Yes sure. His complaint is just, " Have ye no regard ?"
The mat- None ? and yet never the like ? None ? and it pertains unto
'"^^ you? "No regard?" As if it were some common ordinary
matter, and the like never was ? " No regard Y^ As if it con-
cerned you not a whit, and it toucheth you so near ? As if
He should say. Rare things you regard, yea, though they no
ways pertain to you : this is exceeding rare, and will you not
regard it? Again, things that nearly touch you you regard,
though they be not rare at all : this toucheth you exceeding
near, even as near as your soul toucheth you, and will you not
yet regard it? Will neither of these by itself move you?
Will not both these together move you ? What will move
you? Will pity? Here is distress never the like. Will
duty ? Here is a Person never the like. Will fear ? Here
is wrath never the like. Will remorse ? Here are sins never
the like. Will kindness ? Here is love never the like. Will
bounty ? Here are benefits never the like. Will all these ?
Here they be all, all above any sicut^ all in the highest
degree.

Of the Passion. 155

Tnily the complaint is just, it may move us; it wantetb tim man-
no reason, it may move ; and it wanteth no affection in the nest
delivery of it to us, on His part to move us. Sure it moved
Him exceeding much; for among all the deadly sorrows of
His most bitter Passion, this, even this, seemeth to be His
greatest of all, and that which did most affect Him, even the
grief of the slender reckoning most men have it in ; as little
respecting Him, as if He had done or suffered nothing at all
for them. For lo, of all the sharp pains He endureth He
complaineth not, but of this He complaineth, of no regard ;
that which grieveth Him most, that which most He moaneth
is this. It is strange He should be in pains, such pains as
never any was, and not complain Himself of them, but of
want of regard only. Strange, He should not make request, O
deliver Me, or relieve Me I But only, O consider and regard
Me ! In effect as if He said, None, no deliverance, no relief
do I seek ; regard I seek. And all that I suffer, I am content
with it, I regard it not, I suffer most willingly, if this I may
find at your hands, regard.

Truly, this so passionate a complaint may move us, it moved The regard
all but us ; for most strange of all it is, that all the creatures cr^tores
in Heaven and earth seemed to hear this His mournful com- ^^^^
plaint, and in their kind to shew their regard of it. The sun in
Heaven shrinking in his light, the earth trembling under it,
the very stones cleaving in sunder, as if they had sense and
sympathy of it, and sinful men only not moved with it. And
yet it was not for the creatures this was done to Him, to them
it pertaineth not ; but for us it was, and to us it doth. And
shall we not yet regard it? shall the creature, and not we?
shall we not ?

If we do not, it may appertain to us, but we pertain not to The bene-
it ; it pertains to all but all pertain not to it None pertain *""
to it but they that take benefit by it ; and none take benefit
by it no more than by the brazen serpent, but they that fix
their eye on it Behold, consider, and regard it ; the profit,
the benefit is lost without regard.

If we do not, as this was a day of God's " fierce wrath" The peril,
against Him, only for regarding us ; so there is another day
coming, and it will quickly be here, a day of like " fierce Ps. 90. 11.
wrath"againstus, for not regarding Him. " And who regardeth

156 Of the Passion.

\

S E R M. the power of His wrath ?" He that doth, will surely regard .^

—it this. J]

In that day, there is not the most careless of us all

but shall cry as they did in the Gospel, Domine, non ad Te
Marki 8S. pertinet^ si perimus 9 *' Pertains it not to Thee, carest Thou not "

that we perish ?'* Then would we be glad to pertain to Him

and His Passion. Pertains it to us then, and pertains it not

now ? Sure now it must, if then it shall.
There- Then to give end to this complaint, let us grant Him

Have some His request, and regard His Passion. Let the rareness of ^^
"^ it, the nearness to us, let pity or duty, fear or remorse, love or

bounty ; any of them or all of them ; let the justness of His ■ ,

complaint, let His affectionate manner of complaining of this '.

and only of this, let the shame of the creatures' regard, let our !

profit or our peril, let something prevail with us to have it in

some regard.

1. Some regard ! Verily, as His sufferings. His love, our good by
re^rd. them are, so should our regard be a non sicut too ; that is, a

regard of these, and of nothing in comparison of these. It
should be so, for with the benefit ever the regard should
arise.

But God help us poor sinners, and be merciful unto
us ! Our regard is a non sicut indeed, but it is backward, and
in a contrary sense ; that is, no where so shallow, so short, or
so soon done. It should be otherwise, it should have our
deepest consideration this, and our highest regard.

2. But if that cannot be had, our nature is so heavy, and flesh
^me^ and blood so dull of apprehension in spiritual things, yet
regard. at leastwise some regard. Some I say ; the more the better,

but in any wise some, and not as here no regard, none at all.
Some ways to shew we make account of it, to withdraw our-
selves, to void our minds of other matters, to set this before
us, to think upon it, to thank Him for it, to regard Him,
and stay and see whether He will regard us or no. Sure He
Acte 2. 37. will, and we shall feel our " hearts pricked'^ with sorrow, by
" • ^^* consideration of the cause in us — our sin ; and again, " warm
within us," by consideration of the cause in Him — His love ; till
by some motion of grace He answer us, and shew that our
regard is accepted of Him.
8. And this, as at all other times, for no day is amiss but at all

This day '^

specially.

Of the Passion. 157

imes some time to be taken for this duty^ so specially on this
lay; this day, which we hold holy to the memory of His
^assion^ this day to do it ; to make this day, the day of God's
Tath and Christ's suffering, a day to us of serious considera-
on and regard of them both.

It is kindly to consider opus diei in die stw, * the work of
le day in the day it was wrought;' and this day it was
rought. This day therefore, whatsoever business be, to lay
lem aside a little ; whatsoever our haste, yet to stay a little,
id to spend a few thoughts in calling to mind and taking to
igard what this day the Son of God did and suffered for us ;
id all for this end, that what He was then we might not be,
id what He is now we might be for ever.

Which Almighty God grant we may do, more or less, even
ery one of us, according to the several measures of His
ace in us!

A SERMON

PBBACHBD BKFOBX THB

KING'S MAJESTY, AT GREENWICH,

on TBE IWEKTT-NIKTH OF MABCH, AD. MDCY., BEING GOOD-FBIDAT.

Hebrews xii. 2.

Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith ; Who
for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross , and
despised the shame ; and is set at the right-hand of the throne
of God.

Aspicientes in Authorem fidei, et Consummatorem Jesvm ; Qui propo-
site Sibi gaudio, sustinuit crucem, confusione contempta; atgue in
dexterd sedis Dei sedet,

[Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who, for
the Joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,
Engl. Trans.]

S E R M. St. Luke, though he recount at large our Saviour Christ's

'- — whole story, yet in plain and express terms he calleth the

Lu. 28. 48. Passion OeoDpiavy " a theory or sight,^^ which sight is it the
Apostle here calleth us to look unto.

Of our blessed Saviour's whole life or death, there is no
part but is ^* a theory" of itself, well worthy our looking on ; for
from each part thereof there goeth virtue to do us good.
From each part ; but of all, from the last part, or act of His
Passion. Therefore hath the Holy Ghost honoured this last
part only with this name, and none but this. This is the
^ theory^^ ever most commended to our view. To be looked on
He is at all times, and in all acts ; but then, and in that act,
specially, " when for the joy set before Him, He endured the
cross, and despised the shame." Then, saith the Apostle,
** look unto Him," St. Paul being elsewhere careful toshew
the Corinthians, and with them us, Christ ; and as to shew

Of the Possum. 159

them Christ, so to shew them in Christ what that is that

specially concemeth them to know or look unto, thus he saith :

that though he knew many, very many things besides, yet he

''esteemed not to know any thing but Jesus Christ," e^ Hunc i Cor. 2. 2.

crucifixum. Him, "and Him crucified.'' Meaning respectivey

as they term it, that the perfection of our knowledge is

Christ ; and the perfection of our knowledge in or touching

Christ, is the knowledge of His Cross and Passion. That

the chief " theory." Nay, in this all ; so that see this, and

see aU.

The view whereof, though it be not restrained to any one
time, but all the year long, yea all our life long, ought to be fre-
' qaent with us ; — and blessed are the hours that are so spent I
yet if at any one time more than other, certainly this time, this
day may most justly challenge it. For this day wasthis Scripture
fulfilled, and this day are our ears fiUed full with Scriptures
about it. So that though on other days we employ our eyes
otherwise, yet that this day at least we would, as exceeding
fitly the Apostle wisheth us, cupopavy " cast our eyes from other
sights," and fix them on this object, it being the day dedicate
to the lifting up of the Son of Man on high, that He may Joh. 12.82.
draw every eye unto Him.

The occasion of the speaking is ever the best key to every
speech. The occasion then of this speech was this. The
Apostle was to encourage the Hebrews, and in them us all, to
hold on the well-begun profession of Christ and His faith.
This our profession he expresseth in the former verse in the
terms of a race or game, borrowing his similitude from the
games of Olympus. For from those games, famous then over
all the world, and by terms from them taken, it was common
to all writers of that age, both holy and human, to set forth,
as in the running the laborious course, so in the prize of it, the
glorious reward of a virtuous life.

Which race, truly Olympic, because they and we, the
most of us, either stand still, or if we remove do it but slowly,
and are ready to faint upon every occasion ; that we may run
the sooner, and attain the better, two sights he sets before us
to comfort us and keep us from fainting. One, a cloud of
witnesses, in the first verse, that is the Saints in Heaven —
witnesses as able to depose this race may be run, and this

160 Of the Passion.

S E R M. prize may be won, for they have run the one, and won the

'■ — other long ago. These look on us now, how well we carry

ourselves ; and we to look to them, that we may carry our-
selves well in the course we have undertaken.

On which cloud when we have stayed our eyes a while,
and made them fit for a clearer object, he scattereth the cloud
quite, and sets us up a second, even our blessed Saviour His
Ownself. And here he willeth us, a^pav, '*to turn our eyes
from them," and to turn them hither, and to fasten them here
on Jesus Christ, " the Author and Finisher of our Faith." As
if he should say ; If you will indeed see a sight once for all,
look to Him. The Saints, though they be the guides to us,

[Heb.i2.2.]yet are they but followers to Him. He the *Afy)(7f^o<i, "the
Arch-guide," the Leader of them and us all — Look on Him.
They but well willers to our faith, but neither authors nor
finishers of it ; He, both. Both Author to call us to it, and
set us in it ; and Finisher to help us through it, and reward
us for it: — Look to Him. Hunc aspicite is the Apostle's
voice, the voice that cometh out of this cloud, for it is the
wish of them all, even all the Saints ; — Hunc aspicite. At His
appearing therefore the cloud vanisheth. There is a time

Jas. 6. 10. when St. James may say, " Take, my brethren, the Prophets
for an example." But when He cometh forth That said.

Job. 13. 15. Exemphmdedi vobis, " I have given you an example,^* exemplum
sine exemploy *an example above all examples;' when He

Zech.2.13. cometh in place, Sileatomniscaro/^ het all fLeshkeeji silence J'

isa.6.2. Let all the Saints, yea, the Seraphims themselves cover their
faces with their wings, that we may look on Him, and let all
other sights go.

The divi- Let US then turn aside to see this great sight The prin-
I. cipal parts thereof are two : 1. The sight itself, that is, the
thing to be seen ; 2. and the sight of it, that is, the act of
seeing it or looking on it.

The whole verse, save the two first words, is of the object
or spectacle propounded. "Jesus the Author, &c.^' The
two first words, a^op&me^ efe, is the other, the act or duty
enjoined.

[Mat 19. But as in many other cases, so here, Et erunt primi novis-

^^'^ simi, " the first must be last." For though the act, in the

verse, stand foremost, yet in nature it is last, and so to be

Of the Passion. 161

lumdlecL We must have a thing first set up before our eyes,
before we can set our eyes upon it

Of the object then first : this object is Jesus^ not barely,
but with His double addition of 1. " the Author," 2. " the
Knisher of our faith, Jesus." And in Him more particularly,
two theories or sights : 1. Of His Passion ; 2. Of His Session.

1. His Passion, in these words: "Who for the joy," &c.

2. His Session, in these ; " And is set,*^ &c.
In the Passion, two things He pointeth at : 1. What He

suffered, 2. and what moved Him to it. 1. What He
suffered: the cross and shame. The cross He endured, the
shame He despised. 2. And what moved Him; *'for a
certain joy set before Him."

Then is to follow the act or duty of looking on this sight, n.
a^p&vre: ek. 1. Wherein first the two prepositions, 1. ^Atto
and 2. Ek, "firom" and "to:" to look "from," and to look
"to." 2. Then the two verbs : 1 . One in the verse expressed,
that is, opav in aj>op5iVT€^, 2. The other of necessity
implied, for we have never a verb in all the verse. '4^o-
p&vre^ is a participle, and but suspendeth the sentence, till we
either look back to the verb before; and so it is 1. C/if curra-
mus: or to the verse next after, and so it is 2. Ne fatigemur.
In the one is the theory or sight we shall see, thus looking.
In the other the praxis of this theory, what this sight is to
work in us ; and that is a motion, a swift motion, running.
So to look on it that we run, and so to run that we faint not

And if the time will give leave, if our allowance wdll hold
out, then we will take a short view of the session ; that He
"is set down." Wherein is 1. rest and ease opposed to His
cross, where He hung in pain. 2, And in "a throne;"
wherein is glory opposed to shame. 3. And " at the right
hand of God," wherein is the fulness of both the joy wherein
He sitteth, and the joy which was set before Him, and which
is set before us.

To give the better aspect to the party Whom he presenteth i.
to our view, that with better will we may behold Him, before j^® .*^^"
he name His Name he giveth Him this double addition, as J^^ ^i^d "
it were displaying an ensign, proclaiming His style before Finwhero
Him ; whereof these two are the two colours, 1. " The jesua." '
Author," 2. '* The Finisher of our faith, Jesus."

M

162 Of the Passion.

S E R M. " Author and Finisher" are two titles, wherein the Holr
III •

Ghost oft setteth Him forth, and wherein He seemeth to take

special delight. In the very letters. He taketh to Him the
Rev. 1. 8. name of " Alpha^* the Author, and again of " Omega" the
Rev 21 6 Finisher of the alphabet. From letters go to words : there is
Rev. 22. 18 He Verbum in principioy "the Word at the beginning." And
R^. 8. 14 ^^ ^^ " Amen" too, the word at the end. From words to
Ps. 40. 7. books. In capite libri scriptum est de Me^ in the very " front
Eph. 1. 10. of the book" He is ; and He is ^AvaK€<f>dKaUo<ri^^ " the Re-
capitulation," or conclusion of it too. And so, go to persons :
Rev. 1. 17. there He is Primus and novissimusy " the first and the last.**
Rev. 1. 8. And from persons to things ; and there He is, " the beginning
and the end ;" whereof apxVf " the beginning," is in '-4/3%7yo9,
the Author; and riXos, *'the end," is in TeXeiayTt}^, the
CoL 1. 16. Finisher. The first beginning a Quoy He " by Whom all
things are made ;" and the last end He, per or propter Quern,
"by, for, or through Whom" all things aremade perfect

Both these He is, in all things. And as in all things else,
so in faith, whereto they are here applied most fully and fitly
of all other. Thepefore look not aside at any in Heaven or •
earth for matter of faith, look full upon Him. He is worth
the looking on with both your eyes. He hath matter for them
both.

The honour that Zerubbabel hjftd in the material, is no less

Zech. 4. 9. truly His in the spiritual temple of our faith. Manus Ejus,

" His hands" have laid the corner-stone of our belief, and His

[I Pet 1.9.] hands shall bring forth the head-stone also, giving us " the end

of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls."

Of our faith, and of the whole race of it He is the Author,
casting up His glove at the first setting forth. He is the
Finisher, holding out the prize at the goal end. By His
authority it is our course is begun; we run not without
warrant. By His bounty it shall be finished and crowned in
the end ; we run not in vain, or without hope of reward.

But what is this title to the point in hand ? So, as nothing
can be more. "Author and Finisher,^^ they are the two
points that move us to look to Him. And the very same are
the two points wherein we are moved to be like to Him.

To fix our eye, to keep it from straying, to make us look on
Him full, He telleth us He is both these. In efiect as if He

Of the Passion. 163

ttid^ Scatter not your sight, look not two ways, as if He I
shew jou were to begin, and some other make an end. He I
abew you doth both.

His main end being to exhort them, as they had begun
well, so well to persevere ; to very good purpose, He willeth
tfaem to have an eye to Him and His example, Who first
and last, airo ^drvri^ ^XP^ aravpov, 'from the cratch to the
cross,' from St Luke's time quo coepit Jesus facere et docere^ Acts 1. 1.
^tfaat He began to do and teach,'' to St. John's time that He Job. 19. 80.
cried consummatum esty gave them not over sed injinem usque joh. 18. l.
dilexit eosy but " to the end loved them." And so must they
Him, if they do Him right. Both set out with Him, as
"Author" by a good beginning; and hold out with Him, as
** Finisher," to a far better end; and follow Him in both Who
is both. Were He "Author" only, it would serve to step
forth well at the first. But He is " Finisher" too : therefore
we must hold out to the last. And not rend one of them
fix)m the other, seeing He requireth both — ^not either, but
both — ^and is indeed Jesus, a Saviour of none but those, that
follow Him as " Finisher" too, and are therefore marked in
the forehead with Tau the last letter of the Hebrew, as He His Pas-
Himself is Omega, the last of the Greek Alphabet. This is Ezek. 9. 4.
the party He commendeth to our view;." Jesus, the Author
and the Finisher of our faith." For these two to look upon
Him, and in these two to be like unto Him.

Our sight then is Jesus, and in Jesus what? you have I.
called us hither, say they in the Canticles, to see your
Shulamite; — "what shall we see in Him?" What? saith the Cant 6. 18.
Spouse, but as " the company of an army," that is, many
lemons of good sights, an ocean or bottomless depth of mani-
fold high perfections. We shall lose ourselves, we shall be
confounded to see in Him all that may be shewed us,
the object is too great. Two pieces therefore He maketh
choice of, and but two, and presenteth Him to our eye in two
forms only : 1. As hanging on the cross ; 2. as sitting on the
throne. 1. His Passion, and 2. His Session; these two.
And these two, with very good and perfect correspondence to
the two former. By the " cross," He is " Author ;" by the
" throne," He is " Finisher of our faith." As man on the
"cross," "Author;" as God on the "throne," "Finisher."

M 2

164 Of the Passion.

SERM. ** Author," on the *' cross" — there He paid the price of our
'■ — admitting. " Finisher," on the " throne" — there He is the

prize to us of our course well performed, of the well-finishing
our race, the race of our faith.

And sure, with right high wisdom hath the Holy Ghost,
being to exhort us to a race, combined these twain. For in
these twain are comprised the two main motives, that set all
the world on running, 1. love, and 2. hope. The love
He hath to us in His Passion on the cross; the hope
we have of Him, in His Session on the throne. Either of
these alone able to move ; but put them together, and they
will move us, or nothing will.
1. The 1. Love first. What moveth the mother to all the travail

thereto! ^^'^ ^^^ she taketh with her child ? She hopes for nothing, she

1. Love, jg jjj years, suppose ; she shall not live to receive any benefit

by it It is love and love only. Love first.

2. Hope. 2. And then hope. What moveth the merchant, and so

the husbandman, and so the military man, and so all the rest?

All the sharp showers and storms they endure, they love

them not. It is hope, and hope only, of a rich return.

If either of these will serve us, will prevail to move us,

Eph. 6. 2. here it is. Here is love, love in the cross : " Who loved us,

and gave Himself for us, a sacrifice" on the cross. Here is

ev. 8. 21. hope, hope in the throne. " To Him that overcometh will

I give to sit with Me in My throne." If our eye be a

mother's eye, here is love worth the looking on. If our eye

be a merchant's eye, here is hope worth the looking after. I

know it is true, that verus amor vires non sumit de spe; — it is

[S. Ber- Bernard. *Love if it be true indeed, as in the mother,

per. CMt receiveth no manner strength from hope.' Ours is not such,

Senn. 83. b^^ f2L\nt and feeble, and full of imperfection. Here is hope

circ med.] . " *^

therefore to strengthen our weak knees, that we may run the
more readily to the high prize of our calling.
2. What To begin then with His love, the love of His Passion, the
fered. ' peculiar of this day. In it we first look to what He sufiered,
and that is of two sorts. L " The cross He endured ;" 2. " The
shame He despised." 3. And then with what mind, for the
mind is worth all ; and love in it sheweth itself, if not more,
as much as in the suffering itself: — ^but certainly more. And
this is His mind, proposito Sibi gaudio, as cheerfully as if

Of the Persian. 165

khA been some matter of joy. Of both first, jointly under

one. Then severally each by ]tsel£

Two things are to us most precious, 1. our life and 2. our i. <«The
reputation. Pari passu ambulant^ saith the lawyer, 'they gOMfthame**
ann in arm,' and are of equal regard, both. Life is sweet : J**'"^^-
the cross cost Him His life. Honour is dear: shame
bereft Him His honour. In the race which, before us and for
OS, our blessed Saviour ran, these two great blocks, 1. death,
and 2. disgrace were in His way. Neither stayed Him. To
testify His love, over both He passed. Put His shoulders
under the cross and endured it, to the loss of His life. Set
His foot upon shame and despised it, to the loss of His
honour. Neither one nor other, life or honour, held He
dear, to do us good. O, if we should hazard but one of these
two, for any creature living, how much ado would we make
of it, and reckon the party eternally obliged to us ! Or if any
should venture them for us, we should be the better every
time we saw him. O that it might be so here! O that
we would meet this love with the like measure ! Certainly in
His Passion, the love of us triumphed over the love of His
life and honour both.

One view more of both these under one, and we shall by 2.
these two discover two other things in ourselves, for which very
agreeable it was He should sufier these two, that by these two
of His for those two of ours He might make a full satisfaction.
It will shew a good congruity between our sickness and His
salve, between our debt and His discharge.

The mother-sin then, the sin of Adam and Eve, and their
motives to it, are the lively image of all the after-births of sin,
and the baits of sin for ever. Now that which moved them
to disobey, was partly pleasure, and partly pride. Pleasure —
O the fruit was delightful to see and to taste. Pride — eritis Gen.d.6.5.
siczit Dii^ it promised an estate equal to the highest. Behold
then in His Passion, for our pleasure His pain, and for our
pride, His shame and reproach. Behold Him in His patience,
enduring pain for our wicked lust; in His humility, having
shame poured on Him for our wretched pride. " The Lord Acts 8. 16.
of life,'' suffering death ; " The Lord of glory,^' vile and igno- i CJor. 2. 8.
minious disgrace. Tanquam agnusy saith the Prophet of Him, Jer. ii. 19.
" as a lamb," pitifully slaughtered. Tanquam vermis^ saith Ps. 22. 6.

166 Of the Passion.

8 E B BC. He of Himself^ " as a worm," spitefully trod upon. So,

■ — His enduring pains and painful death, expiating our unlai

pleasure; and by His sustaining shame, satisfying for
' shameful pride. Thus may we under one behold ourselv<
and our wicked demerits, in the mirror of His Passioi
Gregory saith well: Dicendum erat qtmntum nos dilexity
diffidere; dicendum erat et quales, ne superbire et ingraii esse^
* How greatly He loved us, must be told us, to keep us froi
distrust j and what we were when He so loved us, must be tol
us, to hold us in humility, to make us everlastingly thankfaL'
Thus far both under one view. i=-

2. "The Now are we to part them, to see them apart. We shall |f^
^"iSSame"^ have much ado to do it, they are so folded and twisted together, ft
severally. Jq \\^q cross there is shame, and in shame there is a cross, r .

and that a heavy one.
riiviiHist. The cross, the Heathen termed cruciabile lignum^ *a tree of
''' torture ;' but they called it also, arborem infoelicemy et stipitem
infamem^ * a wretched infamous tree' withal. So it was in - 1
His crown; the thorns pricked Him — there was pain; the
crown itself was a mere mockery, and matter of scorn. So in
His robe ; His purple body underneath in great pain certainly,
His purple robe over it, a garment of shame and disgrace.
All along the Passion, thus they meet still together. In a
Gal. 6. 17. word, the prints of His Passion, the Apostle well calleth
stigmata Christi, Both are in that word; not only wounds,
and so grievous, but base and servile marks, and so shameful^
for so are stigmata. Thus shame and cross, and cross and
shame run interchangeably.

Yet since the Holy Ghost doth shew us them severally, so
to see them as He shews them. Enduring is the act of
patience, and patience hath pain for her object. Despising
The cross, shamc is the property of humility, even of the highest
humility; not only spernere ssy but spemere se sperm. First
then we must see the pain His patience endured — that is
meant by the cross ; and then see the despising His humility
despised — that is meant by the shame. First then of His cross.
It is well known that Christ and His cross were never
parted, but that all His life long was a continual cross. At
the very cratch. His cross first began. There Herod sought
to do that which Pilate did^ even to end His life before it

Of the Passion, 167

began. All His life after, saith the Apostle in the next verse,
was nothing but a perpetual " gainsaying of sinners," which Hob. 12. 8.
we call crossing ; and profess we cannot abide in any of our
speeches or purposes to be crossed. He was. In the Psalm of
the Passion, the twenty-second, in the very front or inscrip-
tion of it, He is set forth unto us under the term of a hart,
cervus matutinus^ '*a morning hart," that is, a hart roused
early in the morning ; as from His birth He was by Herod,
and hunted and chased all His life long, and this day brought
to His end, and as the poor deer, stricken and wounded to the
heart. This was His last, last and worst ; and this we properly
call His cross, even this day's suffering. To keep us then to
our day, and the cross of the day. " He endured the cross."

" He endured." Very enduring itself is diirum, durum
pati. Especially for persons of high power or place as the
Son of God was. For great persons to do great things, is no
great wonder; their very genius naturally inclineth to it.
But to suifer any small thing, for them is more than to do
many great. Therefore the Prophet placeth his moral forti-
tude, and the Divine his Christian obedience, rather in suffer-
ing than in doing. Suffering is sure the more hard of the
twain. " He endured."

If it be hard to endure, it must be more hard to endure
hard things; and of all things hard to be endured, the
hardest is death. Of the philosopher's irevre ^oySe/)^, * five rAristEth.
fearful things,' it is the most fearful; and what will not a * * '^
man, nay what will not a woman weak and tender, in
physic, in chyrurgery, endure, not to endure death? "He
endured" death.

And that if He endured, and no more but that, it might
suffice ; it is worth all we have, for all we have we will give for
our life. But not death only, but the kind of death is it.
Mortem^ mortem autem cntcisy saith the Apostle, doubting PhiL 2. s.
the point; "death He endured, even the death of the cross."

The cross is but a little word, but of great contents; but

few letters, but in these few letters are contained multa dictu

grama^ perpessu aspera^ * heavy to be named, more heavy to

be endured.' I take but the four things ascribed by the Holy

Ghost to the cross, answerable to the four ends or'quarters C5oi. i. 21.

of it 1. Sanguis Cruets, 2. Dolores Crucis, 8. Scandalum q^ I' (f

GaL i 18.

168 Of the Passion.

S E B BC. CrudSy 4. Maledictum Crucis : that is, the death of the cross

III, .
— is all these four; a 1. bloody, 2. doleful, 3. scandalous,

4. accursed death.

1 . Though it be but a cold comfort, yet a kind of comfort

it is, if die we must, that our death is mors sicca, a dry, not

sanguis crucis^ not a bloody death. 2. We would die, when

we die, an easy, not dhive^; aravpov, not a tormenting death.

3. We desire to die with credit if it might be ; if not, without

scandal — scandalum crucis. 4. At leastwise to go to our

graves, and to die by an honest, ordinary, and by no means

by an accursed death — maledictum crucis. In the cross are

all these, all four. The two first are in " the cross," the two

latter in " the shame.'^ For *' the cross," and " the shame" are

in very deed two crosses ; the shame, a second cross of itself.

1* To see then, as in a short time, shortly. That of the poet,
[Jay. Sat. nee siccd morte tyranni, sheweth plainly, it is no poor pri-
vilege to die without effusion of blood. And so it is. 1. For
a blessing it is, and our wish it is, we may live out our time,
and not die an untimely death. Where there is effusion of
blood, there is ever an untimely death.

2. 2. Yet every untimely death is not violent, but a bloody
death is violent and against nature; and we desire to pay
nature her debt by the way of nature.

8. 3. A violent death one may come to, as in war — sanguis
belli best sheweth it — yet by valour, not by way of punishment.
This death is penal ; not, as all death, stipendium peccati, but,
as evil men's death, vindicta sceleris, an execution for some
capital offence.

4. 4. And not every crime neither. Fundetur sanguis is the
punishment of treason and other more heinous crimes, to die
embrued in their own blood. And even they that die so, die
not yet so evil a death as do they that die on the cross. It is
another case where it is sanguis mortis, the blood and life go
away together at once; another, when it is sanguis crucis,
when the blood is shed, and the party still in full life and
sense, as on the cross it was ; the blood first, and the life a
good while after. This is sanguis crucis, an 1. untimely,
2. violent, 3. penal, 4. penal in the highest degree ; there
bleeding out His blood before He die, and then die.

When blood is shed, it would be no more than needs ; shed

Of the Passion. 169

it would be, not. poured oat Or if so^ at one part, the neck
or throat, not at all parts at once. But here was fundetur^
kvoc made at all parts ; His Passion, as He termeth it, a
second baptism, a river of blood, and He even able to have Mart
been baptized in it, as He was in Jordan. And where it
would be summa parcimonia etiam vilissimi sanguinis^ ^ no waste,
no not of the basest blood that is,' waste was made here. And
of what blood? Sanguis JesUy Uhe blood of Jesus.' And
Who was He ? Sure, by virtue of the union personal, God ;
and so this blood, blood of God's own bleeding, every drop
whereof was precious, more precious than that whereof it was
the price, the world itself. Nay, more worth than many
worlds ; yea if they were ten thousand. Yet was this blood
wastefully spilt as water upon the ground. T!hefundetur and
the Qui here, will come into consideration, both. This is san-
guis crucisy and yet this is not all neither ; there is more yet.
For the blood of the Cross was not only the blood of Gol-
gotha, but the blood of Gabbatha too. For of all deaths, this
was peculiar to this death, the death of the Cross ; that they
that were to be crucified, were not to be crucified alone,
which is the blood of Golgotha, but they must be whipped too
before they were crucified, which is the blood of Gabbatha ;
a second death, yea worse than death itself. And in both
these places He bled, and in either place twice. They rent
His body with the 1. whips ; they gored His head with the
2. thorns — both these in Gabbatha. And again, twice in Gol-
gotha, when they 1. nailed His hands and His feet; when He
was 2. thrust to the heart with the spear. This is sanguis
crucis. It was to be stood on a little, we might not pass it.
It is that whereon our faith depends, per fidem in sanguine
Ipsius. By it He is *' Author of our faith," faith in God, and Rom
peace with God, both ; paci/icans in sanguine crucis^ "pacify- Col.
ing all with the blood of the Cross.^^

Now this bloody whipping and nailing of His, is it which
bringeth in the second point of pain ; that it was not blood
alone without pain, as in the opening of a vein, but it was
blood and pain both. The tearing and mangling of His
flesh with the whips, thorns, and nails, could not choose but
be exceeding painful to Him. Pains, we know, are increased
much by cruel, and made more easy by gentle handling, and

170 Of the Passion.

8 E R M. even the worst that suffer, we wish their execution as gentle,

ITT

and with as little rigour as mayb e. All rigour, all cruelty

was shewed to Him, to make His pains the more painful.
Ps. 129. 8. In Gabbatha they did not whip Him, saith the Psalmist, " they
ploughed His back, and made," not stripes, but *Mong furrows
upon it." They did not put on His wreath of thorns, and
press it down with their hands, but beat it on with bats, to
make it enter through skin, flesh, skull, and all. They did
Pa. 22. 16. not in Golgotha pierce His hands and feet, but made wide
holes like that of a spade, as if they had been digging in
some ditch.

These were pains, and cruel pains, but yet these are not

o)S4i/69, the Holy Ghost's word in the text; those are properly

" straining pains, pains of torture." The rack is devised as

a most exquisite pain, even for terror. And the cross is a

Ps. 22. 14. rack, whereon He was stretched, till, saith the Psalm, all His

bones were out of joint. But even to stand, as He hung,

three long hours together, holding up but the arms at length,

I have heard it avowed of some that have felt it to be a pain

scarce credible. But the hands and the feet being so cruelly

nailed, parts of all other most sensible by reason of the texture

of sinews there in them most, it could not but make His pain

out of measure painful. It was not for nothing that dolores

[Sed vid. acerrimi dicuntur cruciatuSy saith the heathen man, * that the

Tractle/i! ™ost sharp and bitter pains of all other have their name from

m Joan.] hen^e, and are called crudatusy " pains like those of the cross."

It had a meaning that they gave Him, that He had for His

welcome to the cross, a cup mixed with gall or m3'rrh, and

for His farewell, a sponge of vinegar ; to shew by the one the

bitterness, by the other the sharpness of the pains of this

painful death.

Now, in pain we know the only comfort of ^rat?w, is brevis;
if we be in it, to be quickly out of it. This the cross hath
not, but is mors prolixa, ' a death of dimensions, a death long
in dying.' And it was therefore purposely chosen by them.
Blasphemy they condemned Him of: then was He to be
stoned; that death would have despatched Him too soon.
[Vid. They indicted Him anew of sedition, not as of a worse
Mat.27.26.] fault, but only because crucifying belonged to it ; for then He
must be whipped first, and that liked them well, and then

Of the Passion. 171

He must die by inch-meal^ not swallow His death at once

bat "taste" it, as chap. 2. 9, and take it down by little and Heb.2. 9.

little. And then He must have His legs and arms broken,

and so was their meaning His should have been. Else,

I would gladly know to what purpose provided they to have

a vessel of vinegar ready in the place, but only that He might Joh.i9.29.

not faint with loss of blood, but be kept alive till they might

bear His bones crash under the breaking, and so feed their

eyes with that spectacle also. The providence of God indeed

prevented this last act of cruelty; their will was good though.

All these pains are in the cross, but to this last specially the

word in the text hath reference ; V7rifi€iv€y which is, He must

fUifeiv viroy " tarry, stay, abide under it ;" so die that He might

feel Himself die, and endure the pains of an enduring death.

And yet all this is but half, and the lesser half by far

of crudatus cruds. All this His body endured. Was His

soul free the while ? No ; but suffered as much. As much ?

nay more, infinitely much more on the spiritual, than His

body did on the material cross. For a spiritual Cross there

was too: all grant a Cross beside that which Simon of

Gyrene did help Him to bear. Great were those pains, and

this time too little to shew how great; but so great that

in all the former he never shrunk, nor once complained, but

was as if He scarce felt them. But when these came, they

made Him complain and cry aloud /cpavyf)V la'xypavy " a Heb. 6. 7.

strong crying." In all those no blood came, but where

passages were made for it to come out by, but in this it

strained out all over, even at all places at once. This was the

pain of " the press'* — so the Prophet calleth it, torcular, where- Isa. 63. 8.

with as if He had been in the wine-press, all His garments

were stained and gored with blood. Certainly the blood

of Gethsemane was another manner of blood than that of

Gabbatha, or that of Golgotha either; and that was the

blood of His internal Cross. Of the three Passions that was

the hardest to endure, yet that did He endure too. It is that

which belief itself doth wonder how it doth believe, save that

it knoweth as well the love as the power of God to be

without bounds; and His wisdom as able to find, how

through love it might be humbled, as exalted through power,

bej^ond the uttermost that man's wit can comprehend.

\

172 Of the Passion.

S E R M. And this is the Cross He endured. And if all this might
urj,^^^ — have been endured, salvo honore, * without shame or di^ace,*
shame." it had been so much the less. But now, there is a farther
matter yet to be added, and that is shame. It is hard to say
of these two, which is the harder to bear; which is the
greater cross, the cross or shame. Or rather, it is not hard.
There is no mean party in misery, but if he be insulted on,
his being insulted on more grieves him than doth the misery
itself. But to the noble generous nature, to whom interesse
honoris est majus omni alio interesse^ ' the value of his honour
is above all value ;* to him the cross is not the cross, shame
is the cross. And any high and heroical spirit beareth any
grief more easily, than the grief of contemptuous and con-
tumelious usage. King Saul shewed it plainly, who chose
iSam.31.4. rather to run upon his own sword, than to fall into the
hands of the Philistines, who he knew would use him with
Judges 16. scorn, as they had done Samson before him. And even
he, Samson too, rather than sit down between the pillars
and endure this, pulled down house and all, as well upon
his own head, as theirs that so abused him. Shame then
is certainly the worse of the twain. Now in his death,
it is not easy to define, whether pain or shame had
the upper hand; whether greater, crudatus, or scandalum
crucis,

1. Was it not a foul disgrace and scandal to offer Him the
shame of that servile base punishment of the whip, not to be

[Terent. oflFered to any but to slaves and bondmen ? Lords f liber sum,

2. 1. 28.] saith he in the comedy in great disdain, as if being free-bom

he held it great scorn to have that once named to him. Yet

shame of being put out of the number of free-born men he

Phil. 2. 7. despised, even the shame of being in forma servi.

2. That that is servile, may yet be honest. Then was it not
yet a more foul disgrace and scandal indeed to appoint Him
for His death that dishonest, that foul death, the death
of malefactors, and of the worst sort of them ? Morte turpis-
simd, as themselves termed it ; *the most shameful opprobrious
death of all other,' that the persons are scandalous that suflFer
it? To take Him as a thief, to hang Him between two
thieves ; nay, to count Him worse than the worst thief in the
gaol; to say and to cry, Vivat Barabbas, pereat ChristuSf

Of the Passion. 173

'Save Barabbas and hang Christ!' Yet this shame He
despised too, of being informd maleficu

If base, if dishonest, let these two serve ; use Hira not 8.
diagracefully, make Him not a ridiculum Caputs pour not
contempt upon Him. That did they too, and a shame it is
to see the shameful carriage of themselves all along the
whole tragedy of His Passion. Was it a tragedy, or a Passion
trow? A Passion it was, yet by their behaviour it might
seem a May-game. Their shouting and outcries, their
liarrying of Him about from Annas to Caiaphas, from him to
Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from him to Pilate again ;
one while in purple, Pilate's suit; another while in white,
Herod's livery ; nipping Him by the cheeks, and pulling off
His hair ; blindfolding Him and buffeting Him ; bowing to
Him in derision, and then spitting in His face; — was as
if they had not the Lord of glory, but some idiot or
dizard ^ in hand. " Died Abner as a fool dieth ?" saith David n icbiock-
of Abner in great regret. O no. Sure, our blessed Saviour 2s^'8.88.
so died ; and that He so died, doth equal, nay surpass even
the worst of His torments. Yet this shame also He despised,
of being informd ludibHu

Is there any worse yet ? There is. For though contempt

be bad, yet despite is beyond it, as far as earnest is beyond

sport; that was sport, this was malice. Despite I call it,

when in the midst of His misery, in the very depth of all His

distress, they vouchsafed Him not the least compassion ; but

as if He had been the most odious wretched caitiff and abject

of men, the very outcast of Heaven and earth, stood staring

and gaping upon Him, wagging their heads, writhing their

mouths, yea blearing out their tongues ; railing on Him and

reviling Him, scoffing at Him and scorning Him ; yea, in the

very time of His prayers deriding Him, even in His most

mournful complaint and cry for the very anguish of His Spirit.

These vile indignities, these shameful villanies, so void of all

humanity, so full of all despite, I make no question, entered

into His soul deeper than either nail or spear did into His

body. Yet all this He despised, to be \n forma reprobi. Men

hid their faces at this; nay, to see this sight, the sun was

darkened, drew back his light, the earth trembled, ran one

part from the other, the powers of Heaven were moved.

174 Of the Passion.

S E R M. Is this all ? N09 all this but scandalumy there is a greater

'- — yet remaining than scandalumy and that is maledictum crucis;

that the death He died was not only servile, scandalous, oppro-
brious, odious, but even execrable and accursed, of men held
so. For as if He had been a very reprobate, in His extreme
drought they denied Him a drop of water, never denied to
any but to the damned in hell, and instead of it offered Him
vinegar in a sponge ; and that in the very pangs of death, as
one for whom nothing was evil enough.

All this is but man, and man is but man, his glory is shame
oftentimes, and his shame glory ; but what God curseth, that
is cursed indeed. And this death was cursed by God Him-

Gal. 8. 18. self. His own mouth, as the Apostle deduceth. When all is
said we can say, this, thisis the hardest point of His shame, and
the highest point of His love in bearing it. Christus f actus
est maledictum. The shame of a cursed death, cursed by God,
is a shame beyond all shames, and he that can despise it,
may well say consummatum est, there is no greater lefl for
him to despise. O what contempt was poured upon Him !
O how was He in all these despised ! Yet He despised them
all, and despised to be despised in them all. The highest
humility, spernere se sperm ; these so many ways, spemere se
sperni.

So have we now the cross, fv\oi/ BiSvfiov, * the two main
bars of it,' 1. Pain, 2. Shame; and either of these again, a
cross of itself; and that double, 1. outward, and 2. inward.
Pain, bloody, cruel, dolorous, and enduring — pain He endured.
Shame, servile, scandalous, opprobrious, odious — shame He
despised. And beside these, an internal cross, the passion of
Gethsemane ; and an internal shame, the curse itself of the
cross, maledictum crucis. Of these He endured the one, the
other He despised.

8^ Quo These, all these, and yet there remaineth a greater than all

these, even quo animo, * with what mind,' what having in His
mind, or setting before His eyes. He did and suffered all this.
That He did it not utcunque^ but proposito Sibi, * with an eye
to somewhat He aimed at.^

We handle this point last, it standeth first in the verse.
And sure, if this as a figure stand not first, the other two are
but ciphers ; with it of value, nothing without it.

I

antmo.

Of the Passioru 175

To endure all this is very much, howsoever it were. So to
endure it as to make do reckoning of it, to despise it is more
strange than all the rest Sure the shame was great; how
could He make so small account of it? and the cross heavy;
how could He set it so light ? They could not choose but
pinch Him, and that extremely ; and how then could He
endure, and so endure that He despised them ? It is the third
point, and in it is adeps arietis, ^ the fat of rams,' the marrow
of the Sacrifice ; even the good heart, the free forward mind,
the cheerful affection, wherewith He did all this.

There be but two senses to take this avrl in, neither amiss,
both very good, take whetlier you will. Love is in both, and
love in a high measure. ^Avrly even either pro or prce ; pro,
* instead ;' or prcB, * in comparison.'

^AvtI, pro, " instead of the joy set before Him." What joy
was that ? ^E^rjv yap AvtA iv ovpavots, saith Chrysostom, * for
He was in the joys of Heaven : there He was, and there He
might have held Him.' Nothing did or could force Him to come
thence, and to come hither thus to be entreated. Nothing
but Sic dilexit, or Propter nimiam charitatem qud dilexit nos ; [Joh.8.16.]
but for it. Yet was He content, " being in the form of God," ^^^' ^' *'
avrl " instead of it," thus to transform, yea to deform Himself Pkii. 2. 6.
into the shape of a servant, a felon, a fool ; nay, of a caitiff
accursed. Content to lay down His crown of glory, and
avrl " instead of it,^' to wear a crown of thorns. Content,
what we shun by all means, that to endure, — loss of life ; and
what we make so great a matter of, that to despise, — loss of
honour. All this, with the loss of that joy and that honour
He enjoyed in Heaven ; another manner joy, and honour,
than any we have here ; ami " for this," or " instead of this."

But the other sense is more praised, avrl, prce, " in compa-
rison." For indeed, the joy He left in Heaven was rather
irepi/cei/Jiivr) than irpoKei/iivr), joy ' wherein He did already sit,'
than "joy set before Him." Upon which ground, avrl, they
turn prcB, and that better as they suppose. For that is, in
comparison of a certain joy, which He comparing with the
cross and shame and all, chose rather to go through them all
than to go without it. And can there be any joy compared
with those He did forego ? or can any joy countervail those
barbarous usages He willingly went through ? It seemeth, there

176 Of the Passion.

S E R M. can. What joy might that be ? Sure none other, but the joy

'- — He had to save us, the joy of our salvation. For what was

His glory, or joy, or crown of rejoicing, was it not we ? Yes
truly, we were His crown and His joy. In comparison of
this joy he exchanged those joys, and endured these pains;
this was the honey that sweetened His gall. And no joy at
all in it but this — to be Jesus, " the Saviour" of a sort of poor
sinners. None but this, and therefore pity He should lose it.
And it is to be marked, that though to be Jesus, '^a
Saviour," in propriety of speech be rather a title, an outward
honour, than an inward joy, and so should have been pra
honore, rather than prtB gaudio ; yet He expresseth it in the
term of joy rather than that of honour, to shew it joyed
Him at the heart to save us; and so as a special joy, He
accounted it.

Sure, some such thing there was that made Him so cheer-

Ps. 40. 7, fully say to His Pather in the Psalm, Ecce venio^ " Lo I come.''
And to His disciples in earth, This, this is the Passover that

Lu. 22. 15. desiderio desideraviy " I have so longed for," as it were
embracing and even welcoming His death. And which is

Lu. 12. 50. more, quomodo coarctorl " how am I pinched, or straitened,"
till I be at it ! as if He were in pain, till He were in pain to
deliver us. Which joy if ever He shewed, in this He did,
that He went to His Passion with Psalms, and with such
triumph and solemnity, as He never admitted all His life
before. And that this His lowest estate, one would think it,

Joh.12.32. He calleth His exaltation, cum exaltatus fuero. And when
any would think He was most imperfect. He esteemeth and

Lu. 13. 32. so termeth it, His highest perfection ; Tertio die perficior. In

iJoh.4.10. ^g^ ^g^ charitasy "here is love." If not here, where? But
here it is, and that in his highest elevation. That the joys of
Heaven set on the one side, and this poor joy of saving us on
the other. He quit them to choose this. That those pains
and shames set before Him, and with them this joy. He chose
them rather than forego this.

Those joys He forsook, and this He took up ; and to take
it, took upon Him so many, so strange indignities of both
sorts ; took them and bare them with such a mind, as He not
only endured but despised; nor that neither, but even joyed
in the bearing of them, and all to do us good. So to alter

Of the Passion* 177

the nature of things as to find joy in death whereat all do
mourn, and joy in shame which all do abhor, is a wonder like Exod. a 3.
liat of the bush.

This is the very life and soul of the Passion, and all besides
mt the o-KeKero^; only, * the anatomy,' the carcass without it

So have we now the whole object, both what, and with n.
irhat mind. And what is now to be done? shall we notdX^^*^'^
>ause a while and stay, and look upon this " theory" ere we go
ny farther ? Yes, let us. Proper to this day is this sight of
be cross. The other, of the throne, may stay yet his time a
ay or two hence.

We are enjoined to look upon Him. How can we, seeing
le is now higher than the heavens, far out of our sight, or
rom the kenning of any mortal eye ? yes, we may for all that.
Ls, in the twenty-seventh of the chapter next before, Moses
3 said to have seen " Him That is invisible ;" n<JI with the eyes Heb.ii.27.
►f flesh — so neither he did, or we can ; but, as there it is,
^ by faith." So he did, and we may. And what is more
:indly to behold " the Author" of faith, than faith ? or more
dndly for faith to behold, than her " Author*^ here at first, and
ler " Finisher" there at last ? Him to behold first and last, and
lever to be satisfied with looking on Him, Who was content
;o buy us and our eye at so dear a rate.

Our eye then is the eye of our mind, which is faith ; and
)ur aspidentes in this, and the recogitantes in the next verse, Heb. 12. 8.
ill one ; our looking to Him here, is our thinking on Him
here ; on Him and His Passion over and over again. Donee
otus Jixus in eorde Qui totus fixus in cruee^ * till He be as fast
ixed in our heart as ever He was to His cross,' and some im-
)ression made in us of Him, as there was in Him for us.

In this our looking then, two acts be rising fi'om the two
)repositions ; one before, aTro, in d<j)op&vT€<iy " looking from ;"
he other after, et?, " looking upon, or into.^'

There is aTro, "firom,'' abstracting our eye firom other i.
)bjects to look hither sometime. The preposition is not idle, ^.^m. ^
lor the note, but very needful For naturally we put this'^'^-
ipectacle far from us, and endure not either, oft or long to
)eliold it. Other things there be, please our eyes better, and
vhich we look on with greater delight. And we must d<f>opaVy
look off of them,' or we shall never opav, Hook upon' this aright.

N

178 Of the Passion.

S E R M. We must, in a sort, work force to our nature, and per actum

elicitumy as they term it in schools, inhibit our eyes, and even

wean them from other more pleasing spectacles that better
like them, or we shall do no good here, never make a tnie
" theory" of it. I mean, though our prospect into the world
be good, and we have both occasion and inclination to look
thither oft, yet ever and anon to have an eye this way ; to
look from them to Him, Who, when all these shall come to an
end, must be He that shall finish and consummate our faith
and us, and make perfect both. Yea, though the Saints be
fair marks, as at first I said, yet even to look ofi* firom them
hither, and turn our eye to Him fi-om all, even from Saints
and all. But chiefly, from the baits of sin, the concupiscence
of our eyes, the shadows and shows of vanity round about, by
which death entereth at our windows ; which unless we can
be got to looffi'om, this sight will do us no good, we cannot
look on both together.
2. r^ooking Now our " theory," as it beginneth with airo, so it endeth
E?y,**iiito." ^"^^ ^^^' Therefore look from it, that look to Him ; or, as
the word giveth it rather, ** into Him," than to Him. Ek is
*into,' rather than *to.' Which proveth plainly, that the
Passion is a piece of perspective, and that we must set our-
selves to see it if we will see it well, and not look superficially
on it ; not on the outside alone, but opav ek, * pierce into it,'
and enter even into the inward workmanship of it, even of
His internal Cross which He suffered, and of His entire
affection wherewith He suffered it.

And we may well look into Him; Cancellis plenum est
corpus^ * His body is full of stripes/ and they are as lattices ;
patent viscera per vulnera, His wounds they are as win-
dows, through which we may well see all that is within
[S. Ber- Him. Clavus penetrans /actus est mihi clams reseransy saith
per^Cant. ^^' ^^^uard ; * the nails and spear-head serve as keys to let us
SeniL6i. in.' We may look into the palms of His hands, wherein,
isa. 49. 16. saith the Prophet, He hath graven us, that He might never
Joh. 19. 34. forget us. We may look into His side, St. John useth the
[S.August. word, *' opened.'' Vigilanti verboy saith Augustine, *a word well
Joan. 120.] chosen, upon good advice:' we may through the opening
look into His very bowels, the bowels of kindness and com-
passion that would endure to be so entreated. Yea that very

Of the Passion. 179

lieart of His, wherein we may behold the love of our salvation
to be the very heart's joy of our Saviour.

Thus ^* looking from," from all else to look ^' into" Him, what 2.
then ? then foUoweth the participle, we shall see. What shall i,^^
we see ? Nay, what shall we not see ? What *' theory" is there
worth the seeing but is there to be seen ? To recount all
were too long r two there are in especial.
There is a theory medicinal, like that of the brazen serpent,
i and it serveth for comfort to the conscience, stung and
wounded with the remorse of sin. For what sin is there,
F or can there be, so execrable or accursed, but the curse of the
I cross; what so ignominious or full of confusion, but the
^ shame of it; what sa corrosive to the conscience, but the
pains of it ; what of so deep or of so crimson a dye, but the
blood <rf it, the blood of the Cross will do it away ? What
sting so deadly, but the sight of this Serpent will cure it ?
This is a principal theory, and elsewhere to be stood on, but
i not here. For this serveth to quiet the mind, and the
Apostle here seeketh to move it and make it stir.

There is then another "theory" besides, and that is exemplary
for imitation. There He died, saith St. Paul, to lay down i Tim. 2. 6.
for us, avriKvrpoVy our " ransom ;" — that is the former. There
He died, saith St. Peter, to leave unto us imoypafifibv, relin- i Pet 2.21.
quens nobis exemplum, " a pattern," an example to follow, and
this is it, to this He calleth us ; to have a directory use of it,
to make it our pattern, to view it as our idea. And sure, as
the Church under the Law needed not, so neither doth the
Church under the Gospel need any other precept than this
one, Inspice et fac^ " see and do according to the theory Ex. 25. 40.
shewed thee in the mount ;^' to them in Mount Sinai, to us in
Mount Calvary.

Were all philosophy lost, the theory of it might be found
there. Were all Chairs burnt, Moses' Chair and all, the Chair
of the Cross is absolutely able to teach all virtue new again.
All virtues are there visible, all, if time would serve : now I
name only those five, which are directly in the text

1. Faith is named there ; it is, it was most conspicuous
there to be seen, when being forsaken of God, yet He
claspeth as it were His arms fast about Him, with Eli^ Eli^
^' My God, My God," for all that. 2. Patience in "enduring Mat.27.46.

n2

180 Of the Passion.

S E R H. the cross." 3, Humility in " despising the shame." 4. Perse-

— verance, in that it was nothing for Him to be "Author,"

unless He were "Finisher" too. These four. But above
these and all, that which is the 5. ratio idealis of all, the band
and perfection of all, love, in the signature of love, in the
joy which He found in all this; love, majorem qud nemo.
Job. 16. 18. to lay down His life ; nay, parem cui nemo, in such sort to
lay it down. Majorem qud nemo, to do this for His friends;
Parem cui nemo, to do it for His enemies. Notwithstanding
their unworthiness antecedent to do it, and notwithstanding
their unkindness consequent, yet to do it This is the chief
theory of all, but of love, chiefly, the most perfect of all For
sure, if ever aught were truly said of our Saviour, this was :
that being spread and laid wide open on the cross. He
Hab. 2. 2. is Liber charitatis, wherein he that runneth by may read. Sic
E h 2 4 dilexity and Propter nimiam diaritatem, and JEcce quantam
1 Job. 3. 1. charitatem ; love all over, from one end to the other. Every
isa. 53. 5. stripe as a letter, every nail as a capital letter. His livores as
black letters. His bleeding wounds as so many rubrics, to
shew upon record His love toward us.

Of which love the Apostle when he speaketh, he setteth it
Epb. 3. 18. out with " height and depth, length and breadth," the four
dimensions, of the cross, to put us in mind, say the ancient
writers, that upon the extent of the tree was the most exact
love, with all the dimensions in this kind repreisented that
ever was.
2. That we Having seen all these, what is the end and use of this
sight? Having had the theory, what is the praxis of this
theory ? what the conclusion of our contemplation ? *^ Looking
into" is a participle ; it maketh no sentence, but suspendeth
it only till we come to a verb to which it relateth. That
verb must be either the verb in the verse before, ut curramus,
or the verb in the verse following, ut ne fatigemur ; that thus
looking we run, or that thus looking we tire not. This is the
practice of our theory.

We said the use was, and so we see it is, to move us, or to
make us move; to work in our feet, to work in them a
motion; not any slow but a swift motion, the motion of
running, to " run the race that is set before us." The opera-
tion it hath, this sight, is in our faculty motive ; if we stand

Of the Passion. 181

still, to cause us stir, if we move but slowly, to make us
run apace ; if we run already, never to tire or give over
till we do attain. And by this we may know, whether our
theory be a true one : if this praxis follow of it, it is ; if not,
a gaze it may be, a true Christian " theory'' it is not.

And here first our cuf>opav3 that is, our " looking from," is to
work a turning from sin. Sure this spectacle, if it be well
looked into, will make sin shall not look so well-favoured in
our eyes as it did ; it will make us while we live have a less
liking to look toward it, as being the only procurer and cause
of this cross and this shame. Nay, not only cnroTpenreiVy Uo
turn our eye from it,' but airoTpix^iv, * to turn our feet from it'
too ; and to run from, yea, to fly from it, quasi a facie colubri,
*as from the face of a serpent/

At leastwise, if not to run from it, not to run to it as we
have; to nail down our feet from running to sin, and our
hands from committing sin, and in a word have St. Peter's
practice of the Passion, " to cease from sin." This abstractive i Pet 4. i.
force we shall find and feel ; it will draw us from the delights
of sin. And not only draw us from that, but draw from us
too something, make some tears to run from us, or, if we be
dry-eyed that not them, yet make some sighs of devotion,
some thoughts of grace, some kind of thankful acknowledg-
ments to issue from oar souls. Either by way of compassion
as feeling that He then felt, or by way of compunction as
finding ourselves in the number of the parties for whom He
felt them. It is a proper effect of our view of the Passion, this,
as St. Luke sets it down at the very place where he terms it
Betoplavy that they return from it " smiting their breasts" as Lu. 23. 48.
having seen a doleful spectacle, themselves the cause of it.

Now as the loooking /rom worketh a moving from, so doth
the looking to a moving to.

For first, who is there that can look unto those hands and
feet, that head and that heart of His that endured all this, but
must prima facie^ * at the first sight' see and say, Ecce quomodo
dilexit nos f If the Jews that stood by said truly of Him at
Lazarus' grave, JEcce quomodo dilexit eum I when He shed but Job. 11.36.
a few tears out of His eyes, how much more truly may it be
said of us, Ecce quomodo dilexit eos I for whom He hath ** shed
both water and blood,'^ yea even from His heart, and that in

182 Of the Pasaion.

s E R M. such plenty ? And He loving us so, if our hearts be not iron,

— yea if they be iron, they cannot choose but feel the magnetical

force of this loadstone. For to a loadstone doth He resemble

Joh. 12.82. Himself when He saith of Himself, *^ Were I once lift up,"
omnia trakam ad Me. This virtue attractive is in this sight
to draw our love to it.

With which^ as it were the needle, our faith being but
touched, will stir straight We cannot but turn to Him and
trust in Him, that so many ways hath shewed Himself so
true to us, Quando amor conJvrmatur^fideB inchoatUTy saith
St. Ambrose, ^ Prove to us of any that He loves us indeed,
and we shall trust Him straight without any more ado,' we
shall believe any good affirmed of him. And what is there,
tell me, any where affirmed of Christ to usward, but this love
of His, being believed will make it credible.

Jas. 2. 22. Now our faith is made perfect by " works," or " well-doing,"
saith St. James ; it will therefore set us in a course of them.
Of which, every virtue is a stadium^ and every act a step
toward the end of our race. Beginning at humility, the virtue

Phu. 2. 6. of the first setting out, — ^^ let the same mind be in you, that
was in Christ Jesus, Who humbled Himself,'* — and so pro-
ceeding from virtue to virtue, till we come to patience and
perseverance, that keep the goal end. So saith St. Peter,

iFetBAO, Modicum passos per/icietf "suffering somewhat, more or less;
some crossing, if not the cross ; some evil report, though not
shame ; so and no otherwise we shall come to our race end,
our final perfection."

And as the rest move us if we stand §till to run, so if we
run already, these two, patience and perseverance — patience
will make us for all our encounters, fitf tcdfiveiv^ saith the

Heb. 12. 3. Apostle in the next verse, ** not to be weary." Not in our
minds, though in our bodies we be; and perseverance will
make us, fifi i/ckueaffa^,, not to faint or tire," though the time
seem long and never so tedious; both these in the verse
following. But hold on our course till we finish it, even till
we come to Him, Who was not only *' Author/' but
*' Finisher;" Who held out till He came to consummatum est.

P Corricu- And so must we finish, not stadium, but dolichum^ ; not like

niummax- thosc, of whom it was said, currebatis bene, "ye did well for a

^uo' '^"^' start," but like our Apostle that said, and said truly, of him-

Gal.'6. 7.

Oy the Passion. 183

self, cursum cansummaviy ^^I have finished my course^ I have 2 Tim. 4. 7.
held out to the very end."

And in this is the praxis of our first theory or sight of our 8. That wo
We. But our love without hope is but faint: that then with
better heart we may thus do and bestir ourselves^ it will not
be amiss once more to lift up our eyes, and the second time to
look on Him. We have not yet seen the end, the cross is not
the end ; there is a better end than so, ^^ and is set down in
the throne." As the Prophet saw Him, we have seen Him,
in such case as we were ready to hide our faces at Him and
His sight. Here is a new sight ; as the Evangelist saw Him,
60 we now may ; even His glory as the glory " of the only- Joh. 1. 14.
begotten Son of God." Ecce homo I Pilate's sight we have Joh. 19. 6.
seen. JEcce Domimis et Deus meus I St. Thomas' sight we now Joh. 20. 28.
shall. The former in His hanging on the cross, the begin-
ning of our faith. This latter sitting on the throne, the con-
summation of it.

Wherein there is an ample matter of hope, as before of
love, all being turned in and out He sits now at ease That
before hung in pain. Now on a throne. That before on the
cross. Now at God^s right hand. That before at Satan's left.
So Zachary saw Him ; ^^ Satan on His right hand," .and then Zech. s. i.
must He be on Satan^s left. All changed; His cross into
ease. His shame into glory.

Glory and rest, rest and glory, are two things that meet not
here in our world. The glorious life hath not the most quiet,
and the quiet life is for the most part inglorious. He that
will have glory must make account to be despised oft and
broken of his rest; and he that loveth his ease better, must be
content with a mean condition far short of glory. Here then
these meet not;, there our hope is they shall, even both meet
together, and glory and rest kiss each the other; so the isa. ii. lo.
Prophet calleth it a ^^ glorious rest."

And the right hand addeth yet a degree farther, for
dextera est pars potior. So that if there be any rest more
easy, or any glory more glorious than other, there it is on
that hand, on that side; and He placed in it in the best, in
the chie&st, the fiilness of them both. At God^s right hand
is not only power, power while we be here to protect us with
His might outward, and to support us with His grace inward ;

184 Of the Passion.

S E R M. but at " His right hand also is the fiilness of joy for ever,"

p saith the Psalm ; joy, and the fulness of joy, and the fulness \

of it for evermore, i

This is meant by His seat at the right hand on the throne. I
And the same is our blessed hope also, that it is not His i
place only, and none but His, but even ours in expectation
also. The love of His cross is to us a pledge of the hope of
His throne, or whatsoever else He hath or is worth. For if
God have given us Christ, and Christ thus given Himself,
what hath God or Christ They will deny us? It is the

Rom. 8. 82. Apostle's own deduction.

To put it out of all doubt, hear we His own promise That

Rev. a 21. never brake His word. " To him that overcometh will I give
to sit with Me in My throne.^' Where to sit is the fulness of
our desire, the end of our race, omnia in omnibus ; and farther
we cannot go. Of a joy set before Him we spoke ere-while :
here is now a joy set before us, another manner joy than was
before Him ; the worse was set before Him, the better before
us, and this we are to run to.

Thus do these two theories or sights, the one work to love,
the other to hope, both to the well performing of our course ;
that in this theatre, between the Saints joyfully beholding us
in our race, and Christ at our end ready to receive us, we
may fulfil our '* course with joy,'' and be partakers of the
blessed rest of His most glorious throne.

Let us now turn to Him and beseech Him, by the sight of
this day, by Himself first, and by His cross and throne both
— ^both which He hath set before us, the one to awake our
love, the other to quicken our hope — that we may this day
and ever lift up our eyes and heads, that we may this day
and ever carry them in our eyes and heartsy^ look up to them
both ; so look that we may love the one, and wait and hope
for the other; so love and so hope that by them both we
may move and that swiftly, even run to Him^ and running
not faint, but so constantly run, that we fail not finally to
attain the happy fiiiition of Himself, and of the joy and glory
of His blessed throne; that so we may find and feel Him as
this day here, the "Author;'' so in that day there, the
" Finisher of our faith,'* by the same our Lord Jesus Christ !
Amen.

SERMONS

OF THE RESURRECTION,

PREACHED ON EASTER-DAY.

A SERMON

PBEACHKD BKFORB

THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE SIXTH OF APUIL, A.D. MDCVI., HEINO EASTEB-D VY.

Romans vi. 9 — 11.

Knowing that Christy being raised from the dead, dieth no more ;

death hath no more dominion over Him.
For, in that He died. He died once to sin ; but in that He liveth^

He liveth to God,
Likewise think (or account) ge alsOy that ge are dead to sin^ but

are alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord,

[Sdentes quod Christus resurgens ex mortuis jam nan moritur, mors

Illi ultra nan dominabitur.
Quod enim mortuus est peccato, mortuus est semel; quod autem vivit,

vivit Deo.
Ita et vos existimate, vos mortuos quidem esse peccato, viventes autem

Deo, in Christo Jesu Domino nostro, Latin Vulg.]

[Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more;

death hath no more dominion over Him.
For in that He died. He died unto sin once ; hut in that He liveth.

He liveth unto God,
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but

alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Engl. Trans .j

The Scripture is as the feast is^ both of them of the Resur-
rection. And this we may safely say of it, it is thought by
the Church so pertinent to the feast, as it hath ever been and
is appointed to be the very entry of this day's service ; to be
sounded forth and sung, first of all, and before all, upon this
day, as if there were some special correspondence between the
day and it«

188 Oftli£ Resurrection.

S £ R M. Two principal points are set down to us, out of the two \.
'• principal words in it : one, scientes, in the first verse,

** knowing;*' the other, reputate, in the last verse, "count
\ yourselves ;" — knowing and counting, knowledge and calling
y ourselves to account for our knowledge.

Two points very needful to be ever jointly called upon, and
more than needful for our times, being that much we know,
and little we count ; oft we hear, and when we have heard,
small reckoning we make of it. What Christ did on Easter-
day we know well ; what we are then to do, we give no great
regard : our scienies is without a reputantes.

Now this Scripture, ex totd substantidy *out of the whole
frame of it' teacheth us otherwise ; that Christian knowledge
is not a knowledge without all manner of account, but that
we are accountants for it ; that we are to keep an audit of
what we hear, and take account of ourselves of what we have
learned, Aoyi^eaOe is an auditor's term : thence the Holy
Ghost hath taken it, and would have us to be auditors in both
senses.

And this to be general in whatsoever we know, but specially
in our knowledge touching this feast of Christ's Resurrection,
where there are special words for it in the text, where in ex-
press terms an account is called for at our hands as an essential
duty of the day. The benefit we remember is so great, the
feast we hold so high, as though at other times we might be
forborne, yet on this day we may not
Rom. 6. 11. Now the sum of our account is set down in these words,
similiter et vos ; that we fashion ourselves like to Christ, dying
and rising, cast ourselves in the same moulds, express Him
in both as near as we can.

To account of these first, that is, to account ourselves bound
so to do.

To account for these second, that is, to account with our-
selves whether we do so.

First, to account ourselves bound thus to do, resolving thus
within ourselves, that to hear a Sermon of the Resurrection is
/ nothing ; to keep a feast of the Resurrection is as much, except
it end in similiter et vos. Nisiy saith St Gregory, guod de
more celebratur etiam quoadmores exprimatur, * unless we ex-
press the matter of the feast in the form of our lives ;' unless

Of the Resurrection. 189

He from the grave so we from sin, and Uve to godUness as
e unto God.

Then to account with ourselves, whether we do thus ; that
to sit down and reflect upon the sermons we hear, and the
ists we keep ; how, by knowing Christ's death, we die to
I ; how, by knowing His resurrection, we Hve to God ; how
r estate in soul is bettered ; how the fruit of the words we
ar, and the feasts we keep, do abound daily toward our
count against the great audit. And this to be our account,
ery Easter-day.

Of these two points, the former is in the two first verses, Thedi-
lat we must know ; the latter is in the last, what we must ^^^®°*
count for. And they be joined with similiter^ to shew us
ey be and must be of equal and like regard ; and we as
low, so account.

But because our knowing is the ground of our account, the
postle beginneth with knowledge. And so must we.
Knowledge, in all learning, is of two sorts. 1. rerurriy orL
causarum, *ot4, or hUm^ ^ that,' or * in that.' The former
in the first verse : " knowing that Christ,** &c. The latter,
the second ; " for, in that," &c. And because we cannot
st up a sum, except we have a particular, the Apostle giveth
\ a particular of either. A particular of our knowledge
toad resy which consisteth of these three: 1. that " Christ l.
risen from the dead." 2. That now " He dleth not." 2.
That "from henceforth death hath no dominion over
im." All in the first verse. Then a particular of our
aowledge quoad causas. The caiise 1. of His death, sin ;
He died to sin." 2. Of His life, God ; " He liveth to God."
.nd both these but once for all. All in the second verse.
Then followeth our account, in the third verse. Wherein ii.
e consider, first, 1. the charge ; 2. and then the discharge.
. The charge first, similiter et vos; that we be like to Christ. 1.
ind then wherein ; 1. like, in dying to sin; 2. like, in living
) God. Which are the two moulds wherein we are to be
ist, that we may come forth like Him. This is the charge.
. And last of all, the means we have to help us to discharge 2.
, in the last words, " in Christ Jesus our Lord.^^
Before we take view of the two particulars, it will not be Our kiiow-
[iiiss to make a little stay at scientes, the first word, because it x^^ means

of it.

1 90 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. is the ground of all the rest. " Knowing that Christ is risen."

— This the Apostle saith, the Romans did ; — " knowing." Did

know himself indeed^ that Christ was risen, for he saw Him.
But how knew the Romans, or how know we ? No other
way than by relation, either they or we, but yet we much
better than they. I say by relation, in the nature of a verdict,
of them that had seen Him, even Cephas and the twelve ;
which is a full jury, able to find any matter of fact, and to
give up a verdict in it And that Christ is risen, is matter of
fact But if twelve will not serve in this matter of fact, which
in all other matters with us will, if a greater inquest far, if five
1 Cor. 15.6. hundred will serve, you may have so many ; for " of more than
five hundred at once was He seen," many of them then
living ready to give up the same verdict, and to say the same
upon their oaths.

But to settle a knowledge, the number moveth not so much
as the quality of the parties. If they were persons credulous,
light of belief, they may well be challenged, if they took not
the way to ground their knowledge aright. That is ever best
known that is most doubted of; and never was matter carried
with more scruple and slowness of belief with more doubts
and difiiculties, than was this of Christ's rising. Mary Mag-
Mark 16. dalene saw it first, and reported it. *' They believed her not"
J.U. 24. la The two that went to Emmaus^ they also reported it They
^^' believed them not Divers women together saw Him, and

Lu. 24. 11. came and told them ; " their words seemed to them X^po9, an

idle, feigned, fond tale.'' They all saw Him, and even seeing (
Mat 28. 17. Him, yet they "doubted." When they were put outof doubt, J
and told It but to one that happened to be absent, it wasi
Joh. 20. 25. St. Thomas, you know how peremptory he was; "not he, '
unless he might not only see with his eyes, but feel with his
fingers, and put in his hand into His side." And all this he did
St. Augustine saith well : Profecto valde dvbitatum est ah illiSt ^
ne dubitaretur a nobis ; ^ all this doubting was by them made, ^
that we might be out of doubt, and know that Christ is

risen.'

Sure, they took the right course to know it certainly ; and
certainly they did know it, as appeareth. For never was any
thing known in this world, so confidently, constantly, certainly
testified as was this, that Christ is risen. By testifying it,

Of the Resurrection. 191

they got nothing in the earth. Got nothing? Nay, they lost
by it their living, their Ufc, all they had to lose. They might
bave saved all, and but said nothing. So certain they were,
JO certainly they did account of their knowing, they could not
be got from it, but to their very last breath, to the very last
irop of their blood, bare witness to the truth of this article ;
md chose rather to lay down their lives and to take their
leath, than to deny, nay than not to affirm His rising from
cleath. And thus did they know, and knowing testify, and
by their testimony came the Romans to their knowing, and
so do we. But, as I said before, we to a much surer knowing
than they. Ibr when this was written, the whole world
stopped their ears at this report, would not endure to hear them,
stood out mainly against them. The Resurrection I why it
wras with the Grecians at Athens, 'xKeucurfio^, a very 'scorn.' Actsi7.3
Fhe Resurrection ! why it was with Festus the great Roman,
uavlay 'a sickness of the brain, a plain frenzy.' That world Acts 26. 2
that then was and long after in such opposition, is since come
in ; and upon better examination of the matter so strangely
testified, with so many thousand lives of men, to say the least
3f them, sad and sober, hath taken notice of it, and both
known and acknowledged the truth of it It was well fore-
told by St. John, hcee est victoria quce vincit mundum, fides 1 joh. 6. '
rfestra. It is proved true since, that this faith of Christ's
rising hath made a conquest of the whole world. So that,
liter all the world hath taken knowledge of it, we come
to know it And so more full to us, than to them, is this
tcientes, ** knowing." Now to our particulars, what we know.

Our first particular is. That Christ is risen from the dead. 2.
Properly, we are said to rise from a fall, and from death ^„i^**^"
rather to revive. Yet the Apostle rather useth the term 9«^ ^^^
jf rising than reviving, as serving better to set forth his Christ is
purpose. That death is a fall we doubt not, that it cameSwde^.
writh a fall, the fall of Adam. But what manner of fall ? for
it hath been holden a fall, from whence is no rising. But by
Christ's rising it falls out to be a fall, that we may fall
ind yet get up again. For if Christ be risen from it, then is
there a rising; if a rising of one, then may there be of
unother; if He be risen in our nature, then is our nature
risen; and if our nature be, our persons may be. Especially

1 92 Of the Resurrection*

S £ R M. seeing, as the Apostle in the fourth verse before hath told us,
■— ^ — : He and we are av^vrot, that is, so ''grafted*' one into the
other, that He is part of us, and we of Him ; so that as
St. Bernard well observeth, Christus etsi solus resurrexity
tamen nan totus, ' that Christ, though He be risen only, yet
He is not risen wholly,' or all, till we be risen too. He is but
risen in part, and that He may rise all, we must rise from
death also.

This then we know first : that death is not a fall like that
Ex.15. 10. of Pharaoh into the sea, that ''sunk down like a lump of
T^°*?i*!!' lead*' into the bottom, and never came up more; but a fall

Jonah2.10. . ' .

Mat 12.40. like that of Jonas into the sea, who was received by a fish,
and after cast up again. It is our Saviour Christ's own

Mat.25.41. simile. A fall, not like that of the Angels into the bottom-
less pit, there to stay for ever ; but like to that of men into
their beds, when they make account to stand up again. A
fall, not as of a log or stone to the ground, which, where

isa. 26. 19. it falleth there it lieth still ; but as of a wheat-corn into the

iCk)r.i5.36. ground, which is quickened and springeth up again.

The very word which the Apostle useth, iryepOeh, implieth
the two latter : 1. either of a fall into a bed in our chamber,
where, though we lie to see to little better than dead for
a time, yet in the morning we awake and stand up notwith-
standing; 2. or of a fall into a bed in our garden, where,
though the seed putrify and come to nothing, yet we look to
see it shoot forth anew in the spring. Which spring is, as

[Vid. Ter- TertuUian well calleth it, the very resurrection of the year;

Kesiirrect. ^^^ Christ's Resurrcction falleth well with it ; and it is, saith

Cam. 12.] jjg^ jjQ ^^y consonant to reason, that man for whom all things
spring and rise again, should not have his spring and rising
too. But he shall have them, we doubt not, by this day's
work. He That this day did rise, and rising was seen of

Job. 20.16. Mary Magdalene in the likeness of a gardener, this Gardener
will look to it, that man shall have his spring. He will, saith

Isa. 26. 19. the Prophet, "drop upon us a dew like the dew of herbs, and
the earth shall yield forth her dead." And so, as Christ
is risen from the dead, even so shall we.

1. iTiat Our second particular is, That as He is risen, so now He

uieth not7 dieth not. Which is no idle addition, but hath his force and
emphasis. For one thing it is to rise from the dead, and

Of the Resurrection. 193

another, not to die any more. The widow's son of Nain, the Lu. 7. 14.

ruler's daughter of the synagogue, Lazarus, — all these rose j"j| ^' ^

again from death, yet they died afterward; but *' Christ

rising from the dead, dieth no more," These two are sensibly

diflTerent, Lazarus^ resurrection, and Christ's ; and this second

is sure a higher degree than the former. If we rise as they

did, that we return to this same mortal life of ours again, this

very mortality of ours will be to us as the prisoner's chain he

escapes away withal; by it we shall be pulled back again,

though we should rise a thousand times. We must therefore

so rise as Christ, that our resurrection be not reditus^ but

transitus ; not a returning back to the same life, but a passing

over to a new, Transivit de morte ad vitam, saith He. The Joh. 6. 24.

very feast itself puts us in mind of as much ; it is Pascha^ that

is, the Passover, not a coming back to the same land of Deii.i7.i6.

Egypt, but a passing over to a better, the Land of Promise,

whither *' Christ our Passover" is passed before us, and shall i Cor. 6. 7.

in His good time give us passage after Him. The Apostle

expresseth it best where he saith, that Christ by His rising

hath ^' abolished death, and brought to light life and immor- 2 Tim.i.io.

tality ;" not life alone, but life and immortality, which is this

our second particular. Bisen, and risen to die no more,

because risen to life, to life immortal.

But the third is yet beyond both these, more worth the 8. That
knowing, more worthy our account ; "death hath no dominion henceforth
over Him." Where, as we before said, one thing it was to rise ha^*no
again, another to die no more, so say we now ; it is one thing more do-
not to die, another not to be under the dominion of death, over Him.*'
For death, and death's dominion are two different things.
Death itself is nothing else but the very separation of the life
from the body, death's dominion a thing of far larger extent.
By which word of " dominion," the Apostle would have us to
conceive of death, as of some great lord having some large
sifiniory. Even as three several times in the chapter before Rom. 5. 14.

. • . 17. 21.

he saith, regnavit morsy " death reigned," as if death were some
mighty monarch, having some great dominions under him.
And so it is ; for look how many dangers, how many diseases,
sorrows, calamities, miseries there be of this mortal life ; how
many pains, perils, snares of death ; so many several provinces
are there of this dominion. In all which, or some of them,

o

194 Of the Resurrection.

s R R M. while we live, we still are under the jurisdiction and anrest
of death all the days of our life. And say that we escape

them all, and none of them happen to us, yet live we still g
under fear of them, and that is death's dominion too. For
he is, as Job calleth him. Rex pavorisy "King of fear."

Job 18 14. And when we are out of this life too, unless we pertain
to Christ and His Resurrection, we are not out of his
dominion neither. For hell itself is secunda morsy so termed

Rev.20.14. by St. John, **the second death," or second part of death's j

liev. 21.8. dominion.

Now, who is there that would desire to rise again to this
life, yea, though it were immortal, to be still under this
dominion of death here ; still subject, still liable to the aches
and pains, to the griefs and gripings, to the manifold miseries
of this vale of the shadow of death ? But then the other, the
second region of death, the second part of his dominion, who
can endure once to be there ? There they seek and wish for
death, and death flieth from them.

Verily, rising is not enough ; rising, not to die again is not
enough, except we may be quit of this dominion, and rid of
that which we either feel or fear all our life long. Therefore
doth the Apostle add, and so it was needful he should, "death
hath no dominion over Him." " No dominion over Him ?**
No; for He, dominion over it. For lest any might surmise
he might break through some wall, or get out at some
window, and so steal a resurrection, or casually come to it,

Rev. 1. 18. he tells them — No, it is not so. Ecce claves mortis et infemi;
see here, the keys both of the first and second death. Which
is a plain proof He hath mastered, and got the dominion over

rHeb.2.14.] both " death and him that hath the power of death, that is the
devil.'' Both are swallowed up in victory, and neither death

1 Cor.15.65. any more sting, nor hell any more dominion, Sed ad Domi-

Pa. 68. 20. num Deum nostrum spectant exitus mortis ; " but now unto God
oar Lord belong the issues of death ;" the keys are at His
girdle, He can let out as many as He list.

Rev. 2. 10. This estate is it, which he calleth coronam vitce ; not life
alone, but '^ the crown of life," or a life crowned vath immunity
of fear of any evil, ever to befal us. This is it which in the

Rom. 6. 11. next verse he calleth 'Miving unto God," the estate of the
children of the resurrection, to be the sons of God, equal to

Of the Resurrection. 195

the Angels^ subject to no part of death's dominion^ but living
in security, joy, and bliss for ever.

And now is our particular full. 1. Rising to life first;
2. and life freed from death, and so immortal ; 3, and then
exempt from the dominion of death, and every part of it; and
so happy and blessed. Rise again ? so may Lazarus, or any
mortal man do ; that is not it. Rise again to life immortal ?
so shall all do in the end, as well the unjust as the just ; that
is not it But rise again to life immortal, with freedom from
all misery, to live to, and with God, in all joy and glory
evermore ; — that is it, that is Christ's resurrection. JEt tu,
saith St. Augustine, spera talem resurrectionem^ et propter hoc
esto Christianus, * live in hope of such a resurrection, and
for this hope's sake carry thyself as a Christian.' Thus
have we our particular of that we are to know touching Christ
risen.

And now we know all these, yet do we not account our-
selves to know them perfectly until we also know the reason
of them. And the Romans were a people that loved to see 2.
the ground of that they received, and not the bare articles
alone. Indeed it might trouble them why Christ should need
thus to rise again, because they saw no reason why He should
need die. The truth is, we cannot speak of rising well with-
out mention of the terminus a quo, from whence He rose.
By means whereof these two, 1. Christ's dying, and 2. His
rising, are so linked together, and their audits so entangled
one with another, as it is very hard to sever them. And this
you shall observe, the Apostle never goeth about to do it, but
Btill as it were of purpose suffers one to draw in the other
continually. It is not here alone, but all over his Epistles ;
ever they run together, as if he were loath to mention one
without the other.

And it cannot be denied but that their joining serveth to i.
many great good purposes. These two, 1. His death, and
2. His rising, they shew His two natures, human and Divine ;
1. His human nature and weakness in dying, 2. His Divine
nature and power in rising again. 2. These shew His two
offices ; His Priesthood and His Kingdom. 1 . His Priesthood
in the sacrifice of His death ; 2. His Kingdom in the glory 2.
of His resurrection. 3. They set before us His two main 8.

o2

1 96 Of the Resurrection.

SERM. benefits^ 1. interitum mortis^ and 2. principium vitcB. 1. His

: — death, the death of death ; 2. His rising, the reviving of life

again ; the one what He had ransomed us from, the other
4. what He had purchased for us, 4. They serve as two moulds,
wherein our lives are to be cast, that the days of our vanity
may be fashioned to the likeness of the Son of God ; which
are our two duties, that we are to render for those two bene-
fits, proceeding from the two offices of His two natures con-
joined. In a word, they are not well to be sundered ; for when
they are thus joined, they are the very abridgment of the
whole Gospel.
1. The Of them both then briefly. Of His dying first : *' In that

HU^ying. He died. He died once to sin." Why died He once, and why
1. His \^^i Qi^ce ? Once He died to sin, that is, sin was the cause

dying ' ^ '

once. He was to die once. As in saying " He liveth to God," we say
God is the cause of His life, so in saying " He died to sin" we
say sin was the cause of His death. God of His rising, sin of
His fall. And look, how the Resurrection leadeth us to
death, even as naturally doth death unto sin, the sting of
death.

To sin then He died ; not simply to sin, but vrith reference
to us. For as death leadeth us to sin, so doth sin to sinners,
that is, to ourselves ; and so will the opposition be more clear
and full : « He liveth unto God," '' He died unto man." With
reference, I say, to us. For first He died unto us ; and if it

isa. 9. 6. be true that Puer natus est nobisy it is as true that Vir mortuus
est nobis ; if being a Child He was born to us, becoming a
Man He died to us. Both are true.

To us then first He died because He would save us. To
sin secondly, because else He could not save us. Yes he
could have saved us and never died for us, ex plenitttdzne
potestatisy * by His absolute power,^ if He would have taken
that way. That way He would not, but proceed by way of
justice, do all by way of justice. And by justice sin must
have death,— death, our death, for the sin was ours. It was
we that were to die to sin. But if we had died to sin, we
had perished in sin ; perished here, and perished everlast-
ingly. That His love to us could not endure, that we should
so perish. Therefore, as in justice He justly might. He took
upon Him our debt of sin, and said, as the Fathers apply that

Of the Besurrection, 1 97

speech of His, Sifiite abire hos, ** Let these go their ways." And Job. 18. &
80 that we might not die to sin He did. We see why he
died once.

Why but once ? because once was enough, ad auferenda^ 2. And but
saith St. John ; ad abolenda. saith St. Peter : ad exhaurienda. ^^^\ ot%
saith St. Paul ; * to take away, to abolish, to draw dry,' and Acts 8. 19.
utterly to exhaust all the sins, of all the sinners, of all the world. ^®^- ^' ^^•
The excellency of His Person That performed it was such ;
the excellency of the obedience that He performed, such ; the
excellency both of His humility and charity wherewith He
performed it, such; and of such value every of them, and all
of them much more; as made that His once dying was satis
superque, ^enough, andenough again/ which made the Prophet
call it copiosam redemptioneniy "a plenteous redemption." But [Ps. 130.7.]
the Apostle, he goeth beyond all in expressing this ; in one Eph. 2. 7.
place terming it vTrepfidWoDv, in another xnrepeiar€piaaev(ov\ ^P^- ^- 2^*
in another TrXeomfo)!/*, — mercy, rich, exceeding; grace over- r, l^^'^^'
abounding, nay, grace superfluous, for so is TrXeomfwy, and frepiaffov.
superfluous is enough and to spare ; superfluous is clearly [*'^'ip^
enough and more than enough. Once dying then being Z^^^^' ,
more than enough, no reason He should die more than once.
That of His death.

Now of His life: "He Hveth unto God." The rigour of 2. The
the law being fully satisfied by His death, then was He no His living.
longer justly, but wrongfully detained by death. As there-
fore by the power He had. He laid down His life, so He took
it again, and rose again from the dead. And not only rose
Himself, but in one concurrent action, God, Who had by His
death received full satisfaction, reached Him as it were His
hand, and raised Him to life. The Apostle's word iyepdeUy
in the native force doth more properly signify, *' raised by
anotber,^^ than risen by himself, and is so used, to shew it
was done, not only by the power of the Son, but by the will,
consent, and co-operation of the Father; and He the cause
of it. Who for the over-abundant merit of His death, and His
humbling Himself, and " becoming obedient to death, even the
death of the cross," not only raised Him, but propter hocy ** even Phil. 2. 8, 9.
for that cause," exalted Him also, to live with Him, in joy and
glory for ever. For, as when He lived to man He lived to
much misery, so now He liveth to God He liveth in all felicity.

198

Of the Bemrreetion.

S £ R M<
I.

Ps. 86. 9.

II.
Our ac-
count.
1. Of our
comings
in: the
benefit.

1 Pet. 1. 3.

1 Thes. 4.
18.

Job. 11. 23.

Job 19. 25.

This part being oppositely set down to the former; living,
to exclude dying again; living to God^ to exclude death's
dominion, and all things pertaining to it. For^ as with ^^God
is life and the fountain of life^^ against deaths even the fountain
of life never failing, but ever renewing to all eternity; so with
Him also is torrens deliciarum^ '* a main river of pleasures,'^
even pleasures for evermore ; never ebbing^ but ever flowing
to all contentment, against the miseries belonging to death's
dominion. And there He liveth thus : not now, as the Son
of Ood, as He lived before all worlds, but as the Son of man,
in the right of our nature ; to estate us in this life in the
hope of a reversion, and in the life to come in perfect and
full possession of His own and His Father's bliss and happi-
ness ; when we shall also live to God, and God be all in all,
which is the highest pitch of all our hope. We see then His
dying and rising, and the grounds of both, and thus have we
the total of our sdentes.

Now foUoweth our account An account is either of what
is coming to us, and that we like well, or what is going from
us, and that is not so pleasing. Coming to us I call matter
of benefit, going from us matter of duty; where I doubt
many an expectation will be deceived, making account to
hear from the Resurrection matter of benefit only to come in,
where the Apostle calleth us to account for matter of duty
which is to go from us.

An account there is growing to us by Christ's rising, of
matter of benefit and comfort ; such an one there is, and we
have touched it before. The hope of gaining a better life,
which groweth from Christ's rising, is our comfort against the
fear of losing this. Thus do we comfort ourselves against
our deaths : *^ Now blessed be God that hath regenerated us
to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" Thus
do we comfort ourselves against our friends' death ; " Comfort
yourselves one another," saith the Apostle, " with these words."
What words be they ? Even those of our Saviour in the
Gospel, Resurget frater tuus, " Thy brother" or thy father,
or thy friend, "shall rise again.'' And not only against
death, but even against all the miseries of this life. It was
Job's comfort on the dunghill : well yet, videbo Deum in came
med; "I shall see God in my flesh." And not in our

Of the RtsurrecHon. 1 99

miseries alone^ but when we do well, and no man respecteth

us for it. It is the Apostle's conclusion of the chapter of the

Resurrection : Be of good cheer yet, labor vester non erit inanis

in Domino, your " labour is not in vain in the Lord/' you iCor.i5.58.

shall have your reward at the resurrection of the just. All

these ways comfort cometh unto us by it.

But this of ours is another manner of account, of duty to 2. Of our
go from us, and to be answered by us. And such an one f^xSJ ^^
there is too, and we must reckon of it. I add that this here ^^ ^^
is our first account, you see it here called for in the Epistle
to the Romans ; the other cometh after^ in the Epistle to the
Corinthians.

In very deed, this of ours is the key to the other, and we
shall never find sound comfort of that, unless we do first well
pass this account here. It is I say, first, because it is present,
and concemeth our souls, even here in this life. The other
is future, and toucheth but our bodies, and that in the life to
come. It is an error certainly, which runneth in men's heads
when they hear of the Resurrection, to conceive of it as of a
matter merely future, and not to take place till the latter day.
Not only ** Christ is risen," but if all be as it should be, " We
are already risen with Him," saith the Apostle, in the Epistle Coios. 3. 1.
this day, the very first words of it ; and even here now, saith
St. John, is there a " first resurrection," and happy is he that Rov. 20. 6.
"hath his part in it.*' A like error it is to conceit the Resur-
rection as a thing merely corporal, and no ways to be incident
into the spirit or soul at all. The Apostle hath already given
us an item to the contrary, in the end of the fourth chapter
before, where he saith: " He rose again for our justification," Rom. 4. 25.
and justification is a matter spiritual; Justificatus est Spiritu, iTim.3.i6.
saith the Apostle, of Christ Himselt Verily, here must the
spirit rise to grace, or else neither the body nor it shall there
rise to glory. This then is our first account, that account of
ours, which presently is to be passed, and out of hand ; this
is it which first we must take order for.

The sum or charge of which account is set down in these 1.
words, simidter et vos ; that we be like Christ, carry His image Christ.
Who is heavenly, as we have carried the image of the earthly,
"be conformed to His likeness ;" that what Christ hath wrought
for us, the like be wrought in us; what wrought for us by

200 Of the Besurrectian.

S E B H. His flesh, the like wrought in us by His Spirit. It is a maxim

■ or main ground in all the Fathers, that such an account must

be: the former, what Christ hath wrought for us, Deus
reputat nobis, 'God accounteth to us;' for the latter, what
Christ hath wrought in us, reputate vos, we must account to
God. And that is, similiter et vos, that we fashion ourselves
like Him.

Like Him in as many points as we may, but namely and

expressly, in these two here set down: 1, "In dying to

sin," 2, "In living unto God/' In these two first; then

secondly, in doing both these, e^Tro^, but " once for alL"

1. In dying Like Him in these two : 1. In His dying. For He died

Eph!^6. 2. °^^ ^^'y ^^ ^^®^ " * sacrifice" for us, saith St Paul, but also to

1 Pet. 2. 21. leave "an example" to us, saith St. Peter, That example are

we to be like. 2. In His rising : for He arose not only that

1 Pet. 1. 8. we might be " regenerated to a lively hope," saith St. Peter,

but also that we might be " grafted into the similitude of His

resurrection," saith St. Paul, a little before, in the fifth verse

of this very chapter. That similitude are we to resemble. So

have we the exemplary part of both these, whereunto we are

to frame our similiter et vos,

" He died to sin :" — there is our pattern. Our first account
must be, " count yourselves dead to sin." And that we do
when there is neither action, nor afiection, nor any sign of life
in us toward sin, no more than in a dead body ; when, as men
crucified, which is not only His death, but the kind of His
death too, we neither move hand, nor stir foot toward it,
both are nailed down fast. In a word, to " die to sin," with
1 Pet 4. 1. St. Paul here, is to " cease from sin," with St. Peter.

To " cease from sin" I say, understanding by sin, not from
sin altogether — that is a higher perfection than this life will
bear, but as the Apostle expoundeth himself in the very next
Rom. 6. 12. words, Ne regnet peccatum, that is, from the " dominion of sin"
to cease. For till we be free from death itself, which in this
life we are not, we shall not be free from sin altogether; only
we may come thus far, ne regnet, that sin " reign not," wear not
a crown, sit not in a throne, hold no parliaments within us,
give us no laws ; in a word, as in the fourth verse before, that
[Rom. 6.6.] we serve it not. To die to the dominion of sin, — that by
the grace of God we may, and that we must account for.

Of the Bentrredian. 201

''He Hveth to God." There is our similitude of His re- 2. In living
surrection: our second account must be, count yourselves***
"living unto God/' Now how that is, he hath already told
08 in the fourth verse, even '' to walk in newness of life,"
To walk is to move; moving is a vital action, and argueth
life. But rt roust not be any life, our old will not serve ; it
must be a new life, we must not return back to our former
course, but pass over to another new conversation. And in a
word as before, to live to God with St. Paul here, is to live
secundum Deum, " according to God in the Spirit," with i Pet. 4. 6.
St. Peter. And then live we according to Him, when His
will is our law. His word our rule. His Son's life our example.
His Spirit rather than our own soul the guide of our actions.
Thus shall we be grafted into the similitude of His resur-
rection.

Now this similitude of the Resurrection calleth to my mind
another similitude of the Resurrection in this life too, which
I find in Scripture mentioned ; it fitteth us well, it will not
be amiss to remember you of it by the way, it will make us
the better willing to enter into this account

At the time that Isaac should have been offered by his
father, Isaac was not slain : very near it he was, there was Gen. 22. 7.
fire, and there was a knife, and he was appointed ready to be
a sacrifice. Of which case of his, the Apostle in the mention
of his father Abraham's faith, — "Abraham," saith he, "by faith," Heb. 11.17-
Xor/urdfievofi, "made full account," if Isaac had been slain, '
" God was able to raise him from the dead," And even from
the dead God raised him, and his father received him, iv
irapafioXrj, " in a certain similitude," or after a sort. Mark that
well : Raising Isaac from imminent danger of present death, is ^
with the Apostle a kind of resurrection. And if it be so, and
if the Holy Ghost warrant us to call that a kind of resurrection,
how can we but on this day, the day of the Resurrection, call
to mind, and withal render unto God our unfeigned thanks
and praise, for our late resurrection* iv irapaficikp, for our P The
kind of resurrection, He not long since vouchsafed us. Our p(^der
case was Isaac's case without doubt: there was fire, and^l^^*"

' racy, j

instead of a knife, there was powder enough, and we were
designed all of us, and even ready, to be sacrificed, even
Abraham, Isaac, and all. Certainly if Isaac's were, ours was

202 Of the Resurreetum.

^ E B M. a kind of resurrection^ and we so to acknowledge it. We

were as near as be ; we were not only within the dominion,

but within the verge, nay even within the very gates of
death. From thence hath God raised us, and given us this
year this similitude of the Resurrection, that we might this
day of the resurrection of His Son, present Him with this,
in the text, of "rising to a new course of life."

And now to return to our fashioning ourselves like to Him,
in these : As there is a death natural, and a death civil, so is
there a death moral, both in philosophy and in divinity ; and
if a death, then consequently a resurrection too. Every
great and notable change of our course of life, whereby we
are not now any longer the same men that before we were,
be it from worse to better, or from better to worse, is a
moral death; a moral death to that we change from, and
a moral resurrection to that we change to. If we change to
the better, that is sin's death ; if we alter to the worse, that is
sin's resurrection. When we commit sin, we die, we are dead
in sin ; when we repent, we revive again ; when we repent
ourselves of our repenting and relapse back, then sin riseth
again from the dead : and so toties quoties. And even upon
these two, as two hinges, tumeth our whole life. All our life
is spent in one of them.
8. And Now then that we be not all our life long thus oflF and on,

for*aU." fast or loose, in dock out nettle, and in nettle out dock, it
will behove us once more yet to look back upon our similiter
et vos, even upon the word i<f>dira^y seniel, " once." That is,
that we not only " die to sin,^' and ^' live to God," but die
and live as He did, that is, " once for all ;^' which is an utter
abandoning " once" of sin^s dominion, and a continual, con-
stant, persisting in a good course "once^' begun. Sin's do-
minion, it languisheth sometimes in us, and falleth haply into a
swoon, but it dieth not quite " once for all." Grace lifteth up
the eye, and looketh up a little, and giveth some sign of life,
but never perfectly receiveth. O that once we might come
to this ! no more deaths, no more resurrections, but one !
that we might once make an end of our daily continual
recidivations to which we are so subject, and once get past
these pangs and qualms of godliness, this righteousness like
the morning cloud, which is all we perform; that we might

f

Of the Besurrectum. 203

grow habituate in grace, radicati et fundaH^ ''rooted and
founded in it ;" ippi^aofj^oi, " steady," and eSpatoi, " never to Eph. 8. 17.
be removed;" that so we might enter into, and pass a good l^^' *^*
account of this our similiter et vos I

And thus are we come to the foot of our account, which is 2.
our onusy or ' charge.* Now we must think of our discharge, chMge "
to go about it ; which maketh the last words no less necessary ^f^^™®*"*
for us to consider, than all the rest. For what? b it in us, "in Jesus

. Christ our

or can we, by our own power and virtue, make up this Lord."
account? We cannot, saith the Apostle; nay we cannot, 2 Cor. 8. 6.
saith be, XoYuroo-^cu, '^ make account of any thing," no not
so much as of a good thought toward it, as of ourselves. If
any think otherwise, let him but prove his own strength
a little, what he can do, he shall be so confounded in it, as he
shall change his mind, saith St. Augustine, and see plainly,
the Apostle had reason to shut up all with in Christo Jesu
Domino nostra : otherwise our account will stick in our hands.
Verily, to raise a soul from the death of sin, is harder,
far harder, than to raise a dead body out of the dust of death.
St Augustine hath long since defined it, that Mary Mag-
dalene's resurrection in soul, from her long lying dead in
sin, was a greater miracle than her brother Lazarus' resurrec-
tion, that had lain four days in his grave. If Lazarus lay
dead before us, we would never assay to raise him ourselves ;
we know we cannot do it If we cannot raise Lazarus that
is the easier of the twain, we shall never Mary Magdalene
which is the harder by far, out of Him, or without Him, That
raised them both.

But as out of Christ, or without Christ, we can do nothing
toward this account; not accomplish or bring to perfection,
but not do — ^not any great or notable sum of it, but nothing
at all ; as saith St. Augustine, upon sine Me nihil potestis Joh. 15. 5.
fctcere. So, in Him and with Him enabling us to it, we can tract m
think good thoughts, speak good words, and do good works, ^J*^
and die to sin, and live to God, and all. Omnia possum, phii. 4. 18.
saith the Apostle. And enable us He will, and can, as not
only having passed the resurrection, but being the Resurrection
itself; not only had the effect of it in Himself, but being the
cause of it to us. So He saith Himself: "I am the Resur- Joh.n.25.
rection and the Life ;*' the Resurrection to them that are dead

204 Of the Resurrection.

S E R H. in sin^ to raise them from it ; and the Life to them that live
'- unto God, to preserve them in it.

Where, besides the two former, 1, the article of the Resur-
rection, which we are to know ; 2, and the example of the
Resurrection, which we are to be like ; we come to the notice
of a third thing, even a virtue or power flowing from Christ^s
resurrection, whereby we are made able to express our si-
militer et vos^ and to pass this our account of '* dying to sin,''
and "living to God." It is in plain words called by the

Phil. 8. 10. Apostle himself, virtus resurrectionisy " the virtue of Christ's
resurrection,'^ issuing from it to us ; and he prayeth that as
he had a faith of the former, so he may have a feeling of this ;
and as of them he had a contemplative, so he may of this
have an experimental knowledge. This enabling virtue pro-
ceedeth from Christ's resurrection. For never let us think,
if in the days of His flesh there " went virtue out" from even

La. 8. 46. the very edge of His garment to do great cures, as in the
case of the woman with the bloody issue we read, but that
from His Ownself, and from those two most principal and
powerful actions of His Ownself, His 1. death and 2. resurrec-
tion, there issueth a divine power; from His death a power
working on the old man or flesh to mortify it ; from His
resurrection a power working on the new man, the spirit, to
quicken it. A power able to roll back any stone of an evil
custom, lie it never so heavy on us ; a power able to dry up
any issue, though it have run upon us twelve years long.

And this power is nothing else but that divine quality of
grace, which we receive from Him. Receive it from Him we
do certainly : only let us pray, and endeavour ourselves, that

2 Cor. 6. 1. we "receive it not in vain," the Holy Ghost by ways to flesh
and blood unknown inspiring it as a breath, distilling it as
a dew, deriving it as a secret influence into the soul. For
if philosophy grant an invisible operation in us to the celestial
bodies, much better may we yield it to His eternal Spirit,
whereby such a virtue or breath may proceed from it, and be
received of us.

Which breath, or spirit, is drawn in by prayer, and such
other exercises of devotion on our parts ; and, on God's part,
breathed in, by, and with, the word, well therefore termed by

Acts 20. 32. the Apostle, "the word of grace." And I may safely say it

ln*j

Of the Resurrection. 205

with good warrant, from those words especially and chiefly ;

which, as He Himself saith of them, are "spirit and life/'Joh.6.68.

even those words, which joined to the element make the

blessed Sacrament.

There was good proof made of it this day. All the way
did He preach to them, even till they came to Emmaus, and
their hearts were hot within them, which was a good sign;
but their eyes were not opened but " at the breaking of Lu. 24. 81.
bread," and then they were. That is the best and surest
sense we know, and therefore most to be accounted of.
There we taste, and there we see ; ** taste and see how Ps. 84. 8.
gracious the Lord is," There we are made to " drink of the i Cor. 12.
Spirit," there our "hearts are strengthened and stablishedH^^j jg. 9.
with grace." There is the blood which shall "purge ourHeb. 9. 14.
consciences from dead works," whereby we may "die to sin."
There the Bread of God, which shall endue our souls with
much strength ; yea, multiply strength in them, to live unto
God ; yea, to live to Him continually ; for he that " eateth Joh. 6. 88.
His flesh and drinketh His blood, dwelleth in Christ, and*^^*^-^- ^®-
Christ in him;'' not inneth, or sojourneth for a time, but
dwelleth continually. And, never can we more truly, or
properly say, m Christo Jesu Domino nostro, as when we come
new from that holy action, for then He is in us, and we in
Him, indeed. And so we to make full account of this
service, as a special means to further us to make up our
Easter-day's account, and to set off a good part of our charge.
In Christ, dropping upon us the anointing of His grace. In
Jesus, Who will be ready as our Saviour to succour and
support us with His aiwilium specials^ *His special help.'
Without which assisting us, even grace itself is many times
faint and feeble in us; and both these, because He is our
Lord Who, having come to save that which was lost, will not
sufier that to be lost which He hath saved. Thus using His
own ordinance of Prayer, of the Word, and Sacrament, for
our better enabling to discharge this day's duty, we shall I
trust yield up a good account, and celebrate a good feast of
His resurrection. Which Almighty God grant, &c.

A SERMON

PBSACHXO BKPOaX TBI

KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL,

ON TUB FIFTH OF APRIL, A.D. MDGVII., BEING EASTER-DAT.

1 Corinthians xv, 20.

But now is Christ risen from the deady and was made the fast

fruits of them that sleep.

Nunc autem Christus resurrexit a mortuis primitia dormientium,

[^But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first /ruits of

them that slept. Engl. Trans.]

s E R M. The same Apostle that out of Christus resurrection taught

— the Romans matter of duty, the same here out of the

same resurrection tencheth the Corinthians matter of hope.

Rom 6. 4. There, similiter et vos, by way of pattern to conform ourselves
to Him " in newness of life ;" and here, similiter et vos, in
another sense by way of promise ; that so doing. He shall

Phil. 3. 21. hereafter conform us to Himself^ "change our vile bodies,"
and make them like "His glorious body." That former is
our first resurrection from sin, this latter our second resur-
rection from the grave ; this, the reward of that. In that,
the work what to do ; in this, our reward ; what to hope for.
These two, labour and hope, the Church joineth in one
Anthem to-day, her first Anthem. They sort well, and
being sung together make a good harmony* But that
without this, labour without hope, is no good music.

To rise, and to reclaim ourselves £rom a sinful course of life
we have long lived in, is labour sure, and great labour. Now
labour of itself is a harsh unpleasant thing, unless it be

tCor.9. 10. seasoned with hope. Debet qui arat in spe arare^ saith the
Apostle above at the ninth chapter, in the matter of the

Of the Resurrection, 207

Clergy^s maintenance, " He that plows must plow in hope ;" i Cor. 9. 10.
his plough will not go deep else, his furrows will be but
shallow. Men may frame to themselves what speculations
they please, but the Apostle^s saying will prove true : sever
hope from labour, and you must look for labour and labourers
accordingly, slight and shallow God knoweth. Labour then
leads us to hope.

The Apostle saw this, and therefore is careful, whom he 2.
thus presseth to newness of life and the labour therefore, to
raise for them, and to set before them, matter of hope. Hope
here in this life he could set them none. They were, as he
was himself, at quotidie morior every hour, in danger to be 1 Cor. 16.
drawn to the block. It must therefore be from another, or at ^'
least as the text is, by a hope of being restored to life again.
It was their case at Corinth, here in this chapter, plainly : If
we must die to-morrow, if there be all that shall become of
us, then " let us eat and drink*' while we may. If we be not 1 Cot, 15.
sure of another life, let us make sure of this. But when in
the sequel of the chapter, he had shewed there was restoring,
and that so sure he was of it that he falls to insult over them
in these terms, they gird up their loins again, and fall to their
labours afresh, as knowing their labour should not be " in vain iCor.i6.68.
in the Lord.^^ This hope leads us to our restoring.

Our restoring is but a promise — shall be restored : that 3.
necessarily refers to a party that is to make it good. Who
is that ? Christ. " Christ is our hope." Why, " hope is joined [iTim.1.1.]
to the living,'* saith the Wise Man. Christ is dead ; buried Ecc. 9. 4.
last Friday. If He be our hope, and He be dead, our hope
is dead too ; and if our hope be dead, our labour will not live
long, nay both are buried with Christ in His grave. It was
their case this day that went to Emmaus : say they, supposing
Christ to be dead, nos autem sperabamus^ " we were once in Lu. 24. 21.
good hope^' by Him, that is, while He lived ; as much to say
as * Now He is in His grave, our hope is gone, we are even
going to Emmaus.' But then after, as soon as they saw He
was alive again, their hope revived, and with their hope
their labour ; and presently back again to Jerusalem to the
Lord's work and bade Emmaus farewell. So He leads us to
labour ; labour, to hope ; hope, to our restoring ; our restoring
to Christ'i... Who, as He hath restored Himself, will restore us

208 Of the Reiurreetwn.

8 E R H. also to life. And this keeps us from going to Emmaus. It is
used proverbially. Emmaus signifieth * a people forlorn :' all

that are at sperabamus, have lost their hopes, are said to go
thither ; and thither we should all go, even to Emmaus, but
for the hope that breathes from this verse, without which it
were a cold occupation to be a Christian.

This then is the hope of this text, spes viva, spes beatay worth
all hopes else whatsoever. All hopes else are but spei
spiranttum, ' hopes while we breathe ;' this is spes expirantium,
^ the hope when we can fetch our breath no longer.' The
carnal man — all he can say is, dum spiro spero, 'his hope
is as long as his breath.' The Christian aspireth higher, goeth
farther by virtue of this verse and saith, dum expiro spero ) 'his
Job 19. 27. hope fails him not when his breath fails him.' Even then, saith

I Vide

Vuig.] Job, reposita est mihi spes in sinu meo ; this hope, and only this^

is laid up in our bosom, that though our life be taken from

us, yet in Christ we to do it, and it to us shall be restored

again.

Our case is not as theirs then was : no persecution, nor

we at quotidie marior, and therefore not so sensible of this

doctrine. But yet to them that are daily falling toward

death, rising to life is a good text ; peradventure not when \

we arc well and in good health, but the hour is coming, ,

when we shall leave catching at all other hopes, and must

hold only by this; in hord morti^ when all hope save the

hope of this verse shall forsake us. Sure it is, under these

very words are we laid into our graves, and these the last

words that are said over us, as the very last hold we have ;

and we therefore to regard them with Job, and lay them up

in our bosom.

Thedi- There is in this text, I. a text, and an II. exposition,

vision. j^ rpjj^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^y ^^jj ^^jj ^^ AngePs text, for from

them it came first. II. The exposition is St Paul's. These

Mat 28. 6. words, " Christ is risen," were first uttered by an Angel this

Mark 16. 6. ^y j^^ the sepulchrc ; all the Evangelists so testify.

II. * This text is a good text, but reacheth not to us, unless it

be helped with the Apostle^s exposition, and then it will.

The exposition is it that giveth us our hope, and the ground

of our hope. " Christ is risen," saith the Angel. " Christ

the first fruits," saith the Apostle. And mark well that word

Ofihe Resurrection. 209

"first fruits/' for in that word is our hope. For if He be as
the <^ first fruits'' in His rising. His rising must reach to all
that are of the heap whereof He is the ^^ first fruits." This is
our hope.

But our hope must have " a reason/' saith St. Peter, and we IIL
be ready with it The hope that hath a ground, saith St. Paul, j/*®**-* ' ^^'
that is, spes qtuB non confundit Having then shewed us this Bom. bib,
hc^, he sheweth us the ground of it This : that in very
equity we are to be allowed to be restored to life, the same
way we lost it. But we lost it by man, or to speak in
particular, by Adam we came by our attainder. Meet there-
fore, that by man, and to speak in particular, that by Christ,
we come to our restoring. This is the ground or substance
of our hope.

And thus he hath set before us this day life and death, IV.
in themselves and their causes, two things that of all other do
most concern us. Our last point shall be to apply it to the
means, this day offered unto us toward the restoring us to
life.

The doctrine of the Resurrection is one of the foundations, I.
so called by the Apostle. It behoveth him therefore, as auchristia

naen.**

skilful workman, to see it surely laid. That is surely laid „ . g -
that is laid on the rock, and "the rock is Christ." Therefore ick)r.io.4.
he laid it on Christ by saying first, " Christ is risen."

Of all that be Christians, Christ is the hope; but not
Christ every way considered, but as risen. Even in Christ
un-risen there is no hope. Well doth the Apostle begin here;
and when he would open to us " a gate of hope," carry us Hos. 2. 16.
to Christ's sepulchre empty; to shew us, and to hear the
Angel say, " He is risen." Thence after to deduce ; if He
were able to do thus much for Himself, He hath promised us
as much, and will do as much for us. We shall be restored
to life.

Thus had he proceeded in the four verses before, de-
structive. 1. Miserable is that man, that either laboureth or i Cor. 15.
suffereth in vain. 2. Christian men seem to do so, and do ^ ^^ jg
so, if there be no other life but this. 3. There is no other iS.
life but this, if there be no resurrection. 4. There is no
resurrection, " if Christ be not risen ;" for ours dependeth i Cor. 16.
on His. And now he tumeth all about again. " But now,"

210 Of the Resurrection.

8 E^R M. saith He, I. " Christ is risen." 2. If He be, we shall. 3. If

^j^ 2 ^3 we shall, we have, as St. Paul calleth it, a " blessed hope,"
and so a life yet behind. 4. If such hope we have, we of
all men "labour not in vain." So there are four things:
1. Christ's rising; 2. our restoring; 8. our hope; and 4. our
labour. All the doubt is of the two first, the two other will
follow of themselves. If a restoring, we have good hope; if
good hope, our labour is not lost. The two first are in the
first ; the other in the last words. The first are, " Christ is
risen ;" the last, we shall be restored to life. Our endeavour
is to bring these two together, but first to lay the corner-
stone.

** Christ is risen," is the AngePs text, a part of the " great

iTiiiL8.i6. mystery of godliness,^' which, as the Apostle saith, was "seen
of Angels," by them " delivered,'^ and ** believed on by the
world." Quod credibile primum fecit illis videntium certitudo,
post morieniium fortitudoy jam credibile miki facit credentium
multitudo, * It became credible at first by the certainty of
them that saw it, then by the constancy of them that died for
confession of it, and to us now the huge multitude of them
that have and do believe it, maketh it credible.* For if it be not
credible, how is it credible that the world could believe it?
the world, I say, being neither enjoined by authority, nor
forced by fear, nor inveigled by allurements; but brought
about by persons, by means less credible than the thing itself.

Acts 6. 89. Gamaliel said, " If it be of God, it will prevail." And though
we cannot argue, all that hath prevailed is of God, yet thus
we can : that which hath been mightily impugned, and weakly
pursued, and yet prevailed, that was of God certainly. That
which all the powers of the earth fought but could not prevail
against, was firom Heaven certainly. Certainly, *' Christ is
risen ;" for many have risen, and lift up themselves against it,
but all are fallen. But the Apostle saith, it is a ^' foundation,"
that he will not lay it again ; no more will we, but go forward
and raise upon it, and so let us do.

" Christ is risen :" suppose He be, what then ? Though
Christ's rising did no way concern us or we that, yet 1. first,
In that a man, one of our own flesh and blood hath gotten
such a victory, even for humanity's sake ; 2. Then, in that One
that is innocent hath quit Himself so well for innocency's

Of the Resurredum. 211

sake ; 3. thirdly, In that He hath foiled a common enemy, for
amity's sake ; 4. lastly. In that He hath wiped away the
ignominy of His fall with the glory of His rising again,
for virtue and valour's sake ; for all these we have cause
to rejoice with Him, all are matter of gratulation.

But the Apostle is about a farther matter; that text, the n.
Angel's text, he saw would not serve our turn, farther than I atie'aex^
have said. Well may we congratulate Him, if that be all, g^^"];;,
but otherwise it pertains to us, "Christ is risen." The "the first

fruits.**

Apostle therefore enters farther, telling us that Christ did
thus rise, not as Christ only, but as " Christ the first fruits."
"Christ is risen," and in rising become the "first fruits;^'
risen, and so risen ; that is, to speak after the manner of men,
that there is in Christ a double capacity. 1. One as a body
natural, considered by Himself, without any relative respect
unto us, or to any; in which regard well may we be glad,
as one stranger is for another, but otherwise His rising
concerns us not at alL 2. Then that He hath a second, as a
body politic, or chief part of a company or corporation, that
have to Him, and He to them, a mutual and reciprocal
reference, in which respect His resurrection may concern us
no less than Himself; it is that He giveth us the first item of
in the word primituBy that Christ in His rising cometh not to
be considered as a totum integraley or body natural alone, as
Christ only ; but that which maketh for us. He hath besides
another capacity, that He is a part of a corporation or body,
of which body we are the members. This being won, look
what He hath suffered or done, it pertaineth to us, and we
have our part in it.

You shall find, and ever when you find such words make As a part
much of them, Christ called a " Head,"— a head is a part ; %^^^^
Christ called a "Root," — a root is a part; and here Christ Eph. 1.22.
called "first fruits," which we all know is but a part of
the firuits, but a handful of a heap or a sheaf, and referreth
to the rest of the firuits, as a part to the whole. So that there
is in the Apostle's conceit one mass or heap of all mankind,
of which Christ is the " first firuits," we the remainder. So as
by the law of the body all His concern us no less than they
do Him, whatsoever He did. He did to our behoo£ Die
He, or rise, we have our part in His death and in His

pa

212 Of the Resurrection.

BERK, resurrection, and all: why? because He is but the '* first
-^ — fruits/'

And if He were but PrimuSy and not PrimiticB darmientiumi
there were hope. For primus is an ordinal number, and
draweth after a second, a third, and God knoweth how
many. But if in that word there be any scruple, as some-
time it is ante quern non est rather than post quern est aliuSj if
no more come by one ; all the world knows the first fruits
is but a part of the fruits, there are fruits beside them,
no man knoweth how many.

As a part But that which is more, the "first fruits" is not every

i^oie! P^i'^9 hut such a part as represented! the whole, and hath an
operative force over the whole. For the better understanding
whereof, we are to have recourse to the Law, to the very insti-

Lev.28.10. tution or first beginning of them. Ever the legal ceremony
is a good key to the evangelical mystery. Thereby we shall
see why St. Paul made choice of the word *^ first fruits,"
to express himself by ; that he useth verbum vigilansy * a word

Pro. 25. 11. that is awake,' as St. Augustine saith, or as Solomon, '^ a word

^^® upon his own wheel." The head or the root would have
served, for if the head be above the water, there is hope for
the whole body, and if the root hath life, the branches shall
not long be without; yet he refiiseth these and other that
ofiered themselves, and chooseth rather the term of "first
fhiits." And why so ?

This very day, Easter-day, the day of Christ's rising,
according to the Law, is the day or feast of the ** first fruits ;"
the very feast carrieth him to the word, nothing could be
more fit or seasonable for the time. The day of the Passion

1 Cor. 6. 7. is the day of the Passover, and " Christ is our Passover ;" the
day of the B/esurrection is the day of the first fruits, and
Christ is our " first fiiiits.*'

And this term thus chosen, you shall see there is a very apt
and proper resemblance between the Resurrection and it.
The rite and manner of the first fruits, thus it was. Under
the Law, they might not eat of the fruits of the earth so long
as they were profane. Profane they were, until they were
sacred, and on this wise were they sacred. All the sheaves

Lev. 23. 10. in a field, for example's sake, were unholy. One sheaf is
taken out of all the rest, which sheaf we call the first finiits.

Of the Resurrection. 213

That in the name of the rest is lift up aloft and shaken Ley.28.it.
to and fro before the Lord^ and so consecrated. That done, I«ev.28.i4.
not only the sheaf so lifted up was holy, though that alone
was lift up, but all the sheaves in the field were holy, no less
than it. The rule is, '^ If the first fruits be holy, all the lump Boin.ii.i6.
is so too.^'

And thus, for all the world, &reth it in the Resurrection.
*^ We were all dead," saith the Apostle, dead sheaves alL One, 2 Cor. 5.14.
and that is Christ, this day, the day of first fruits, was in
manner of a sheaf taken out of the number of the dead, and
in the name of the rest lift up from the grave, and in
His rising He shook, for there was a great earthquake, by Mat 28. 2.
virtue whereof the first finiits being restored to life, all the
rest of the dead are in Him entitled to the same hope, in that
He was not so lift up for Himself alone, but for us and in our
names ; and so the substance of this feast fulfilled in Christ's
resurrection.

Now upon this lifting up, there ensueth a very great altera- Not of
tion, if you please to mark it It was even now, "Christ is j^t "^f**
risen from the dead, the first fruits" — it should be of the them that
dead too, for from thence He rose ; it is not so, but " the first Our hope,
fruits" — " of them that sleep ;" that you may see the consecra-
tion hath wrought a change. A change and a great change
certainly, to change veKpol into KCKotfjurffiivoi, a burial place
into a cemetery, that is a great dortor ; graves into beds,
death into sleep, dead men into men laid down to take their
rest, a rest of hope, of hope to rise again. " If they sleep, Joh. 11.12.
they shall do well.*'

And that which lieth open in the word, dormientiumy the
very same is enfolded in the word " first fruits :" either word
affordeth comfort. For first fruits imply fruits, and so we, as
the fruits of the earth, falling as do the grains or kernels into
the ground, and there lying, to all men's seeming putrified
and past hope, yet on a sudden, against the great feast of first
fruits, shooting forth of the ground again. The other of
dormientium the Apostle letteth go, and fastens on this
of fruits, and followeth it hard through the rest of the
chapter ; shewing, that the rising again of the fruits sown 1 Cor. 15.
would be no less incredible than the Resurrection, but that *
we see it so every year.

214 Cfthe Beswrrection.

8 E R M. These two words of 1. sleeping and 2. sowing would be laid

• — up well. That which is sown riseth up in the spring, that

which sleepeth in the rooming. So conceive of the change
wrought in our nature ; that feast of first fruits, by ^^ Christ
our first fruits." Neither perish, neither that which is sown,
though it rot, nor they that sleep, though they lie as dead for
the time. Both that shall spring, and these wake well again.
Therefore as men sow not grudgingly, nor lie down at night
unwillingly, no more must we, seeing by virtue of this feast
we are now dormientes, not mortui ; now not as stones, but as
fruits of the earth, whereof one hath an annual, the other a
diurnal resurrection. This for the first fruits^ and the change
by them wrought.
IIL There is a good analogy or correspondence between these,

groondof it cannot be denied. To this question. Can one man's
*^ ^^ ' resurrection work upon all the rest ? it is a good answer,
Why not as well as one sheaf upon the whole harvest ? This
simile serves well to shew it, to shew but not prove. Sym-
bolical Divinity is good, but might we see it in the rational
too ? We may see it in the cause no less ; in the substance,
and let the ceremony go. This I called the ground of our
hope.

Why, saith the Apostle, should this of the first fruits seem
strange to you, that by one Man^s resurrection we should
rise all, seeing by one man's death we die all ? " By one
Bom. 5. 12. man,'^ saith he, ^' sin entered into the world, and by sin
death ;" to which sin we were no parties, and yet we all die,
because we are of the same nature whereof he the first
person ; death came so certainly, and it is good reason life
should do so likewise. To this question, Can the resurrection
of one, a thousand six hundred years ago, be the cause of our
rising ? it is a good answer. Why not, as well as the death of
one, five thousand six hundred years ago, be the cause of our
dying? The ground and reason is, that there is like ground
and reason of both. The wisest way it is, if wisdom can con-
trive it, that a person be cured by mithridate made of the
very flesh of the viper bruised, whence the poison came, that
so that which brought the mischief might minister also the
remedy ; the most powerful way it is, if power can effect it, to
make strength appear in weakness; and that he that over-

Of the Besurrection. 215

came should by the nature which he overcame, be ^^ swallowed
up in victory/' The best way it is, if goodness will admit of
it, that as next to Sathan man to man oweth bis destruction,
so next to God man to man might be debtor of his recovery.
So agreeable it is to the power, wisdom, and goodness of God
this, the three attributes of the blessed and glorious Trinity.

And let justice weigh it in her balance, no just exception
can be taken to it, no not by justice itself; that as death
came, so should life too, the same way at least More favour
for life, if it may be, but in very rigour the same at the least.
According then to the very exact rule of justice, both are to
be alike ; if by man one, by man the other.

We dwell too long in generalities ; let us draw near to the
persons themselves, in whom we shall see this better. In
them all answer exactly, word for word. Adam is fallen, and
become the first fruits of them that die. '^ Christ is risen,
and became the first fruits of them'' that live, — for they that
sleep live. Or you may, if you please, keep the same term
in both, thus: Adam is risen, as we use to call rebellions
risings; he did rise against God by eritis sicut Dii; he Gen. 8. 5.
had never fallen, if he had not thus risen ; his rising was
bis fall.

We are now come to the two great persons, that are the
two great authors of the two great matters in this world, life
md death. Not either to themselves and none else, but as
wo heads, two roots, two first fruits, either of them in re-
erence to his company whom they stand for. And of these
;wo hold the two great corporations: 1. Of them that die,
hey are Adam's ; 2. Of them that sleep and shall rise, that
s Christ's.

To come then to the particular: no reason in the world
hat Adam's transgression should draw us all down to death,
>nly for that we were of the same lump ; and that Christ's
ighteousness should not be available to raise us up again to
ife, being of the same sheaves, whereof He the first fruits, no
ess than before of Adam. Look to the things, death and
ife ; weakness is the cause of death, raising to life cometh of
)ower. Shall there be in weakness more strength to hurt, 2Cor.l6.4.
ban in power to do us good ? Look to the persons, Adam
ind Christ : shall Adam, being but a " living soul," infect us iCor.l(>.46.

216 Of the Resurrection.

8 £ R M. more strongly than Christ, *^ a quickening Spirit/' can heal us

-T—^-T- again ? Nay then, Adam was but **firom the earth, earthy,

47. ' * Christ the Lord from Heaven." Shall earth do that which

Heaven cannot undo? Never. It cannot be; sicia^ siCf ^9d

and * so,'— so run the terms.

But the Apostle, in Rom. 5. where he handleth this very
Bom. 5. 15. point, tells us plainly, non sicut delictum^ ita et donum ; ^^ not 88
the fault, so the grace \" nor as the fall, so the rising, but the
grace and the rising much more abundant. It seemeth to be
a pari; it is not indeed, it is under value. Great odds
between the persons, the things, the powers, and the means
of them. Thus then meet it should be ; let us see how it
was.

Here again the very terms give us great light. We are,

saith he, restored; restoring doth always presuppose an

attainder going before, and so the term significant ; for the

nature of attainder is, one person maketh the fault, but it

taints his blood and all his posterity. The Apostle saith that

Heb. 9.27. a Statute there is, ^^ all men should die ;" but when we go to

Gen. 8. 19. search for it, we can find none, but pulvis es, wherein only

Adam is mentioned, and so none die but he. But even by

that statute, death goeth over all men ; even " those," saith

[Bom. 6. St. Paul, " that have not sinned after the like manner of

transgression of Adam." By what law ? By the law of

attainders.

The restoring then likewise was to come, and did come,
after the same manner as did the attainders ; that by the
first, this by the second Adam, so He is called verse 45.
There was a statute concerning God's commandments, qui
Lev. 18. h.fecerit ea^ vivet in eis; *he that observed the commandments
should live by that his obedience,' death should not seize on
him. Christ did observe them exactly, therefore should not
have been seized on by death; should not but was, and
that seizure of his was death's forfeiture. The laying of the
former statute on Christ was the utter making it void; so
judgment was entered, and an act made, Christ should be
restored to life. And because He came not for Himself but
for us, and in our name and stead did represent us, and so
we virtually in Him, by His restoring we also were restored,
Bom.11.16. by the rule, si primitics, et tota conspersio sic ; ^* as the first

'9

Of the Resurrection. 217

Tuits go, so goeth the whole lump," as the root the branches.
\nd thus we have gotten life again of mankind by passing
this act of restitution, whereby we have hope to be restored to
life.

But life is a term of latitude, and admitteth a broad
difference, which it behoveth us much that we know. Two
lives there be ; in the holy tongue, the word which signifieth
life is of the dual number, to shew us there is a duality of
lives, that two there be, and that we to have an eye to both.
It will help us to understand our text. For all restored to
life ; all to one, not all to both. The Apostle doth after, at
the forty-fourth verse, expressly name them both. 1. One
a natural life, or life by the " living soul ;" the other, 2, a
spiritual life, or life by the " quickening Spirit." Of these two,
Adam at the time of his fall had the first, of a " living soul,^
was seized of it ; and of him all mankind, Christ and we
all, receive that life. But the other, the spiritual, which is the
life chiefly to be accounted of, that he then had not, not
actually; only a possibility he had, if he had held him
in obedience, and " walked with God,^' to have been trans- [Gen. 6.
lated to that other life. For clear it is, the life which Angels *-'
now live with God, and which we have hope and promise to
live with Him after our restoring, when we " shall be equal Lu. 20. 86.
to the Angels," that life Adam at the time of his fall was
not possessed' of.

Now Adam by his fall fell from both, forfeited both estates.
Not only that he had in reversion, by not fulfilling the con-
ditions, but even that he had in esse too. For even on that
also did death seize after et mortuus est.

Christ in His restitution, to all the sons of Adam, to all our
whole nature, restoreth the former ; therefore all have interest,
all shall partake that life. What Adam actually had we shall
actually have, we shall all be restored. To repair our nature
He came, and repair it He did ; all is given again really that
in Adam really we lost touching nature. So that by his fall,
no detriment at all that way.

The other, the second, that He restoreth too; but not
promiscue, as the former, to all. Why ? for Adam was never
seized of it, performed not that whereunto the possibility was
annexed, and so had in it but a defeasible estate. But then,

218 Of the Resurreetim.

S £ R H. by His special grace^ by a second peculiar act. He hath p
'- — enabled us to attain the second estate also which Adam had |:

only a reversion of, and lost by breaking of the condition |:
whereto it was limited. And so to this second restored so
many as, to use the Apostle's words in the next verse, ^' are in
Him /' that is, so many as are not only of that mass or lump
whereof Adam was the first fruits, for they are interested in
the former only, but that are besides of the nova conspersio,
whereof Christ is the prtmittce.

Joh. 1. 12. « They that believe in Him," saith St John, them He hath
enabled, " to them He hath given power to become the sons
of God," to whom therefore He saith, this day rising, Vado

Job. 20. 17. ad Patrem vestrum ; in which respect the Apostle calleth Him

Bom. 8.29. Prtmoffenitum inter multos fratres. Or, to make the comparison
even, to those that are — to speak but as Esay speaketh of

Isa. 8. 18. them — " His children ;'^ " Behold, I and the children God
hath given Me." The term He useth Himself to them after

[Jo1l21.6.] His resurrection, and calleth them "children;" and they
as His family take denomination of Him — Christians, d
Christ.

Of these two lives, the first we need take no thought for.
It shall be of all, the unjust as well as the just. The life d
the " living soul," shall be to all restored. All our thought is
to be for the latter, how to have our part in that supernatural
life, for that is indeed to be restored to life. For the former,
though it carry the name of life, yet it may well be disputed
and is. Whether it be rather a death than a life, or a life than
a death ? A life it is, and not a life, for it hath no living
thing in it. A death it is, and not a death, for it. is an
immortal death. But most certain it is, call it life if you will,
they that shall live that life shall wish for death rather than it,
and, this is the misery — not have their wish, for death shall
fly firom them.

Out of this double life and double restoring, there grow two
resurrections in the world to come, set down by our Saviour
in express terms. Though both be to life, yet, 1. that is

Rom. 6. called " condemnation to judgment ;" and 2. this only " to

Hebii85 '^^®* ' ^^ these the Apostle calleth one "the better resurrec-
tion," the better beyond all comparison. To attain this then
we bend all our endeavours, that seeing the other will come of

[Roi

16.]

Of the Resurrection. 219

itself without taking any thought for it at all, we may make
sure of this.

To compass that then, we must be *^ in Christ :" so it is in i.
the next verse ; to all, but to ** every one in brder, Christ" fi Cor. 16.
first, ** the first fruits, and then, they that be in Him/'

Now He is in us by our flesh, and we in Him by His 2.
Spirit; and it standeth with good reason, they that be
restored to life, should be restored to the Spirit For the
Spirit is the cause of all life, but specially of the spiritual life
which we seek for.

His Spirit then we must possess ourselves of, and we must s.
do that here; for it is but one and the same Spirit That
raiseth our souls here from the death of sin, and the same Bom. an.
That shall raise our bodies there from the dust of death.

Of which Spirit there is " first fiiiits," to retain the words 4.
of the text, and '^ a frdness ;" but the fulness in this life we
shall never attain ; our highest degree here is but to be of the
number whereof he was that said, JEt nos habentes primitiasium.s,2B,
Spiritus.

These first firuits we first receive in our Baptism, which 6.
is to us our *'laver of regeneration,^' and of our "renewing Tit. 8. 6.
by the Holy Spirit," where we are made and consecrate
prim^ue.

But as we need be restored to life, so I doubt had we need 6.
to be restored to the Spirit too. We are at many losses of it,
by this sin that "cleaveth so fast" to us. I doubt, it is with Heb. 12. 1.
us, as with the fields, that we need a feast of first fruits, a day
of consecration every year. By something or other we grow
unhallowed, and need to be consecrate anew, to re-seize us of
the first fruits of the Spirit again. At least to awake it in us,
as primiticB darmientium at least. That which was given us,
and by the fraud of our enemy, or our own negligence, or
both, taken from us and lost, we need to have restored ; that 1 ihes. 5.
which we have quenched, to be lit anew ; that which we have ^'^^^ 5 ^4
cast into a dead sleep, awaked up from it.

If such a new consecrating we need, what better time than
the feast of first fruits, the sacrificing time under the Law ? and
in the Gospel, the day of Christ's rising, our first finiits, by
Whom we are thus consecrate? The day wherein He was
Himself restored to the perfection of His spiritual life, the life

220 Of the Resurrection.

S £ R H. of glory, is the best for us to be restored in to the first fruits

of that spiritual life, the life of grace.

ly. And if we ask, what shall be our means of this cons^

cation of Crating? The Apostle telleth us, we are sanctified by the

mait**^" " oblation of the body of Jesus.*' That is the best means to

Heb.10.10. restore us to that life. He hath said it, and shewed it Him-
self; '* He that eateth Me shall live by Me.** The words

Joh. 6. spoken concerning that, are both *' spirit and life," whether
we seek for the spirit or seek for life. Such was the means
of our death, by eating the forbidden fruit, the first firuits
of death ; and such is the means of our life, by eating the
flesh of Christ, the first fiiiits of life.

And herein we shall very fiiUy fit, not the time only and
the means, but also the manner. For as by partaking the
flesh and blood, the substance of the first Adam, we came to
our death, so to life we cannot come, unless we do parti-
cipate with the flesh and blood of the " second Adam," that
is Christ. We drew death from the first, by partaking the
substance ; and so must we draw life from the second, by the
same. This is the way ; become branches of the Vine, and
partakers of His nature, and so of His life and verdure both.
So the time, the means, the manner agree. What letteth
then but that we, at this time, by this means, and in this
manner, make ourselves of that conspersion whereof Christ
is our first finiits ; by these means obtaining the first firuits of
His Spirit, of that quickening Spirit, Which being obtained
and still kept, or in default thereof still recovered, shall here
begin to initiate in us the first finits of our restitution in this

Acts 8. 21. life, whereof the fulness we shall also be restored unto in the
life to come ; as St Peter calleth that time, the " time of the
restoring of all things." Then shall the fulness be restored us
too, when God shall be *^ all in all ;" not some in one, and
some in another, but all in all. Atque hie est vita Jinis, per-
venire ad vitam ctijtis non est finis ; ^ this is the end of the text
and of our life, to come to a life whereof there is no end.' To
which, &c.

I

A SERMON

PBKACHSD BBVOBB TBB

KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE TWENTT- SEVENTH OF MABCH, AJ>. MDCTIH., BBUIG EA8TBB-DAT.

Mark xvi. 1 — 7.

dnd when the Sabbath day was past^ Mary Magdalene, and
Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought sweet oint-
ments, that they might come and embalm Him.

Therefore early in the morning, the first day of the week, they
came unto the sepulchre, wh^n the sun was yet rising.

And tJiey said one to another. Who shall roll us away this stone
from the door of the sepulchre f

ind when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away ;
for it was a very great one.

Jo they went into the sepulchre, and saw a young man sitting at
the right side, clothed in a long white robe; and they were
etfraid.

But he said unto them. Be not afraid: ye seek Jesus of Naza-
reth, Which hath been crucified ; He is risen, He is not here ;
BeJioU the place where they put Him.

But go your way and tell His disciples, and Peter, that He will
go before you into Galilee : there shall ye see Him, as He said
unto you.

Et cum transtsset Sabbatum, Maria Magdalene, et Maria Jacobi, et

Salome emerunt aromata ut venientes ungerent Jesum.
Et valde mane und sabbatorum, veniunt ad monumentum, orio jam

sole,
Et dicehant ad invicem : Quis revolvet nobis lapidem ab ostio monu-

menti?
Et respicientes viderunt revolutum lapidem. Erat quippe magnus

valde.
Et introeuntes in monumentum viderunt juvenem sedentem in dextris,

coopertum stola Candida, et obstupuerunt.
Qki dicit illis, Nolite expavescere : Jesum quteritis Nazarenum,

crucifixum ; surreadt, nan est hie, ecce locus ubi posuerunt Eum,
Sed ite, dicite discipulis Ejus, et Petro quia pracedit vos in Gait-

ham : ibi Eum videbitis, sicut dixit vobis. Latin Vulg.]

r

3

292 Oftlie Resurrection.

[And when the Sabbath was pastf Mary Magdalene, and Mary tk

mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that thof

might come and anoint Him,
And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, thei

came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
And they said among themselves. Who shall roll away us the stone

from the door of the sepulchre P
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away; for

it was very great.
And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on tk

right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they wen

affrighted, \^

And he saith unto them. Be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of jVom-

reth. Which was crucified: He is risen. He is not here; behoU

the place where they laid Him.
But go your way, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before

you into Cralilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you.

Engl. Trans.]

S E R K. The sum of this Gospel is a gospel^ that is, a message of

=r — - — good tidings. In a message these three points fall in natu-

I. rally: I. the parties to whom it is brought; 11. the party

^ by whom; III. and the message itself. These three: 1. the

parties to whom, — three women, the three Maries. 2. The

party by whom, — an Angel. 8. The message itself, the first

news of Christ's rising again. These three make the three

parts in the text. 1. The women, 2. the Angel, 3. the

message.

The^^- Seven verses I have read ye. The first fomr concern the

women, the fifth the Angel, the two last the Angel's message.

In the women, we have to consider 1. themselves in the first;

2. their journey in the second and third ; and 3. their success

in the fourth.

In the Angel, 1. the manner of his appearing, 2. and of
their affecting with it.

In the message, the news itself: 1. that Christ "is risen;*
2. that " He is gone before them to Galilee ;" 3. that " there
they shall see Him ;" 4. Peter and all. 5. Then, the Its et
dicitCy the commission ad evangelizandum ; not to conceal
these good news but publish it, these to His Disciples, they
to others, and so to us; we to-day, and so to the world's end.

III.

vision.

Of the Resurrection. 223

As the text lieth, the part that first offereth itself, is the l
parties to whom this message came. Which were three ^t^'
mmen. Where, finding that women were the first that had "^^om:
lotice of Christ's resurrection, we stay. For it may seem women,
trange that passing by all men, yea the Apostles themselves,
)hrist would have His resurrection first of all made known to
liat sex. Reasons are rendered, of divers diversely. We may
e bold to allege that the Angel doth in the text, verse 5.
^os enim qtueritisj for they sought Christ. And, Christ ** b Heb. 6. lO.
ot unrighteous to forget the work and labour of their love"
bat seek Him. Verily there will appear more love and
iboar in these women, than in men, even the Apostles them-
elves. At this time, I know not how, men were then become
romen and did animos gerere muliebres, and women were [M. T.
len. Sure the more manly of the twain. The Apostles, off, i. is.]
hey set mured up, all "the doors fast" about them; sought Job. 20.19.
ot, went not to the sepulchre. Neither Peter that loved J^l^ga^'
lim, nor John whom He loved, till these women brought
bem word. But these women we see were last at His
^assion, and first at His Resurrection ; stayed longest at that,
ame soonest to this, even in this respect to be respected.
$are, as it is said of the Law, Vigilantibus et non dormientibus
uccurrit Lex, so may it no less truly be said of the Gospel.
N'e see it here, it cometh not to sleepers, but to them that are
wake, and up and about their business, as these women
rere. So that there was a capacity in them to receive this
>rerogative.

Before I leave this part of the parties, I may not omit to MaryMag-

Cifl.1 AHA

observe Mary Magdalene's place and precedence among the first.
hree. All the Fathers are careful to note it. That she
itandeth first of them, for it seemeth no good order. She
lad had seven devils in her, as we find, verse 9. She had Mark 16.9.
lad the blemish to be called peccatrixy as one famous and ^^ ^- ^^•
lotorious in that kind. The other were of honest report, and
lever so stained, yet is she named with them. With them
ifere much, but not only with them, but before them. With
hem; — and that is to shew Christ's resurrection, as well as
lis death, reacheth to sinners of both sexes ; and that, to
inners of note, no less than those that seem not to have
preatly gone astray ; — but before them too, and that is indeed

224 Of the Resurrection.

8BR11 to be noted; that she is the first in the list of women, and
St Peter in that of men. These two, the two chief sinnere,

either of their sex. Yet they, the two whose lots came first
Col. 1. 12. forth in sorte sanctorum^ in partaking this news. And this to
shew that chief sinners as these were, if they carry themselves
as they did, shall be at no loss by their fall ; shall not only be
Lu. 16. 22. pardoned but honoured even as he was, like these, with stM
primdf ^* the first robe" in all the wardrobe, and stand foremost
of all. And it is not without a touch of the former reason, in that
the sinner, after his recovery, for the most part seeketh Ood
more fervently, whereas they that have not greatly gone astray,
are but even so so ; if warm, it is all. And with God it is a
rule, plus valet kora fervens quam mensis tepens, * an hour of
fervour more worth than a month of tepor.^' Now such was
Mary Magdalene, here and elsewhere vouchsafed therefore
2 Sam. 23. this degree of exaltation, to be ^^ of the first three ;" nay, to
^^' be the first of the three, that heard first of His rising ; yea, as

in the ninth verse, that first saw Him risen firom the dead.
This of the persons.
Their And now, because their endeavours were so well liked as

widttiere- they were for them counted worthy this so great honour, it
in^their faUeth next to consider what those were, that we being like
prepared may partake the like good hap. So seeking as they,
we may find as they did. They were four in number. The
first and third in the second, the second in the first, and the
last in the third verse. All reduced, as Christ reduced them
in Mary Magdalene, to dilexit multum, * their great love,' of
which these four be four demonstrations ; or, if love be an
Cant 2. 4. " ensign'' as it is termed Cant. 2., the four colours of it.

1. That they went to the sepulchre; — love to one dead.

2. That they bought precious odours; — love that is at charges.

3. That out they went early, before break of day ; — love diat
will take pains. 4. That for all the stone, still they went on;
— love that will wrestle with impediments. The first is con-
stant as to the dead ; the second bounteous, as at expense ;
the third diligent, as up betimes ; the last resolute, be the
stone never so great. According to which four, are the four
denominations of love : 1. Amory a mor^tSy when it surviveth
death. 2. When it buyeth dearly, it is charitas ; 8. When it
sheweth all diligence, it b dilectio; 4. When it goeth per

Of the Resurrection, 225

^axay when stones cannot stay it, it is zelusy which is specially
seen in encountering diflSculties. It shall not be amiss to
touch them severally ; it will serve to touch our love, whether
oars be of the same assay.

The first riseth out of these words, "They went to the i. Love to
sepulchre ;" and indeed, ex totd substantidy * out of the whole aL^
text' For, for whom is all this ado, is it not for Christ?
But Christ is dead, and buried three days since, and this is
now the third day. What then, though He be dead, to their
love He liveth still: death may take His body from their
eyes, but shall never take His remembrance from their hearts.
Herein is love, this is the first colour, saith a great master in
that faculty y for tis sicut mors, "love, that death cannot foil,^' Cant, a 6.
but continueth to the dead, as if they still were alive. And
when I say the dead, I mean not such as the dead hath left
behind them, though that be a virtue, and Booz worthily
blessed for it that shewed mercy to the living for the dead's Ruth 2. 20.
sake ; but I mean performing offices of love to the dead him-
self; to see he have a sepulchre to go to ; not so to bury his
friend, as he would bury his ass being dead. To see he have
one, and not thither to bring him, and there to leave him, and
bury him and his memory both in a grave. Such is the
world's love. Solomon sheweth it by the lion and the dog. Ecc. 9. 4.
All after Christ living, but go to His sepulchre who will, not
we. The love that goeth thither, that burieth not the memory
of Him that is buried, is love indeed.

The loumey to the sepulchre is iter amoris ; had it been 2. Love

that was

but to lament, as Mary Magdalene to Lazarus: — but then at charges:
here is a farther matter, they went to anoint Him. That is ^^7fJ*|
set for another sign, that they spared for no cost, but bought
precious odours wherewith to embalm Him.

1. To go to anoint Christ, is kindly ; it is to make Him
Christ, that is, " Anointed." That term referreth principally to
His Father's anointing, I grant ; but what, if we also anoint
Him, will He take it in evil part? Clearly not, neither
quick, nor dead. Not quick, Luke 7. Mark 14. Not dead ; L«- 7. 46.

. . . . . Mark 14. 8.

this place is pregnant, it is the end of their journey to do &c.
this. He is well content to be their, and our Anointed,
not His Father's only ; yea, it is a w^ay to make Him Christum

Q

I

i.

n

226 Of the Resurrection.

8 E R H. nostrum, * our Christ,' if we break our boxes, and bestow oar^

: — odours upon Him.

2. To anoint Him, and not with some odd cast ointment
lying by them, kept a little too long, to throw away upon
Him ; but to buy, to be at cost, to do it emptis odorAuSy^ mid
bought odours/

8. This to do to Him alive, that would they with all their

hearts ; but if that cannot be, to do it to Him dead, rather

than not at all. To do it to whatsoever is left us of Christ

to that to do it

4. To embalm Christ, Christ* dead, yea though others hai

Joh. 19.89. done it before, for so is the case. Joseph and Nicodemm
had bestowed myrrh and aloes to that end already. What
then 7 though they had done it, it is not enough, nay, it k
nothing. Nay, if all the world should have done it, unleaB
they might come with their odours and do it too, all were
nothing. In hoc est charitaSy ^ herein is love,' and this a sign
of it. A sign of it every where else, and to Christ a sign k
was. Indeed, such a sign there was, but it is beaten down
now. We can love Christ absque hoc, and shew it some other
way well enough. It sheweth our love is not charitas, no
dear love ; but vilitasy love that loves to be at as little charges
with Christ as may be, faint love. You shall know it thus:
Ad hoc signum se contrahit, ^ at this sign it shrinks,' at every ;
word of it. 1 . " They bought," — that is charge ; we like it

Mark 14. 5. not, we had rather hear potuit vendi. 2. " Odours.'' What
need odours ? An unnecessary charge. We like no odour
but odor lucri, 8. To Christ Nay, seeing it is unnecessary,
we trust Christ will not require it. 4. Not alive, but
especially, not dead. There was much ado while He lived
to get allowance for it ; there was one of His own Apostles,

Mark 14. 4. a good charitable many pater pauperuniy held it to be plain
pej'ditio. Yet, to anoint the living, that many do, they can
anoint us again ; but to the dead, it is quite cast away. But
then, if it had been told us. He is embalmed already, why
then, take away their odours, that at no hand would have
been endured. This sheweth our love is not charitas. But
so long as this is a Gospel, it shall sound every Eastcr-day in
our ear, That the buying of odours, the embalming of whatso-
ever is left us of Christ, is and will be still a sign of our loving

ii

Of the Resurrection. 227

and seeking Him, as we should ; though not heretofore, yet
now; now especially, when that objection ceaseth, He is
embalmed enough already. He was indeed then, but most of
the myrrh and aloes is now gone. That there is good occa-
sion left, if any be disposed in hoc signo signari^ * with this
sign to seal his love to Christ anew again.'

From this of their expense, charitasy we pass to the third, 8. Love,
of their diligence, dilectioy set down in the second verse in pains : ^
these words " very early," &c. And but mark how diligent ^^*^^'
the Holy Ghost is in describing their diligence. " The very
first day of the week," the very first part of that first day,
in the morning;" the very first hoiur of that first part,
very early, before the sun was up,'' they were up. Why
good Lord, what need all this haste ? Christ is fast enough
under His stone. He will not run away ye may be sure ; ye
need never break your sleep, and yet come to the sepulchre
time enough. No, if they do it not as soon as it may be
done, it is nothing worth. Herein is love, dilectio, whose
proper sign is diligentia, in not slipping the first opportunity
of shewing it. They did it not at their leisure, they could
not rest, they were not well, till they were about it. Which
very speed of theirs doubleth all the former. For cito we
know is esteemed as much as bis. To do it at once is to do
it more than once, is to do it twice over.

Yet this we must take with us, Aia/yepofjiivov aa^^drov.
Where falleth a very strange thing, that as we have com-
mended them for their quickness, so must we now also for
their slowness, out of the very first words of all. " When the
Sabbath was past," then, and not till then, they did it. This
diligence of theirs, as great haste as it made, stayed yet till
the Sabbath were past, and by this means hath two contrary
commendations : 1. One, for the speed ; 2. another for the
stay of it. Though they fain would have been embalming
Him as soon as might be, yet not with breach of the Sabbath.
Their diligence leapt over none of God's commandments for
haste. No, not this commandment, which of all other the
world is boldest with ; and if they have haste, somewhat else
may, but sure the Sabbath shall never stay them. The
Sabbath they stayed, for then God stayed them. But that
was no sooner over^ but their diligence appeared straight.

Q 2

228 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. No other thing could stay them. Not their own sabbath,
'- — sleep— but " before day-light" they were well onward on their

way.
4. Love The last is in the third verse, in these words, " As they
ties with went, they said," &c. There was a stone, a very great one, to
liie^r be rolled away ere they could come at Him. They were so
^**"' rapt with love, in a kind of ecstacy, they never thought of the
stone ; they were well on their way before they remembered it
And then, when it came to their minds, they went not back
though, but on still, the stone non obstante. And herein is
love, the very fervor of it, zeal ; that word hath fire in it
Not only diligence as lightness to carry it upward, but zeal
as fire to burn a hole and eat itself a way, through whatsoever
shall oppose to it. No stone so heavy as to stay them, or turn -
iJoii.4.ia them back. And this is St. John's sign : foras pellittimorem^
" love, if it be perfect, casts out fear ;" et erubescit nomen diffi-
cuUatisy ^ shames to confess any thing too h&rd for it.' Ouis
is not so; we must have, not great stones, God wot, but
every scruple removed out of our way, or we will not stir.
But as, if you see one qui hborem fingit in prcsceptOy * that
makes a great deal more labour in a precept' than needs, that
Prov.26.18. is afraid where no fear is ; of lea in via, *^ a lion" or I wot not
what perilous beast "in the way," and no such matter; it is a
certain sign his love is small, his affection cold to the business
in hand ; so, on the other side, when we see, as in these here,
such zeal to that they went about, as first they forgot there
was any stone at all, and when they bethought them of it,
they brake not off^ but went on though ; ye may be bold to
say of them, dilexerunt multum^ * their love was great' that per
saxay ^ through stones' and all, yet goeth forward ; that neither
cost nor pains nor peril can divert Tell them the party is
dead they go to ; it skills not, their love is not dead ; that
will go on. Tell them He is embalmed already, they may save
their cost ; it is not enough for them except they do it too,
they will do it nevertheless for all that. Tell them they may
take time then, and do it; nay, unless it be done the first
day, hour, and minute, it contents them not. Tell them
there is a stone, more than they remember, and more than
they can remove ; no matter, they will try their strength and
lift at it, though they take the foil. Of these thus qualified

Of the Resurrection, 229

vre may truly say, They that are at all this cost, labour, pains,
to anoint Him dead, shew plainly, if it lay in them to raise
Him again, they would not fail but do it ; consequently would
be glad to hear He were risen, and so are fit hearers of
this Gospel ; hearers well disposed, and every way meet to
receive this •Messenger, and this message. Now to the
success.

We see what they sought, we long to see what they found. 3.
Such love and such labour would not be lost. This we may ^J*^^"^"
be sure of, there is none shall anoint Him alive or dead, with-
out some recompense or consideration ; which is set down of
two sorts. 1. "They found the stone rolled away," as great
as it was. That which troubled them most, how it might be
removed, that found they removed ere they came. They
need never take pains with it, the Angel had done it to their
hands. 2. They found not indeed Whom they sought, Christ ;
but His Angel they found, and heard such a gospel of Him,
so good news, as pleased them better than if they had found
His body to embalm it. That news which of all other they
most longed to hear, that He they came to anoint needed no
such office to be done to Him, as being alive again. This
was the success.

And from this success of theirs our lesson is. 1. That as
there is no virtue, no good work, but hath some impediment,
as it were some great stone to be lifted at, — Quis revolvet ? so
that it is ofttimes the lot of them that seek to do good, to find
many imaginary stones removed to their hands ; God so pro-
viding, ut quod admovit Satanas^ amoveat AngeluSy ^what
Satan lays in the way, a good Angel takes out of the way ;'
that it may in the like case be a good answer to Quis revolvet f
to say, Angelus Domini^ " the Angel of the Lord," he shall
do it, done it shall be : so did these here, and as they did,
others shall find it.

2. Again, it is the hope that all may have that set them-
selves to do Christ any service, to find His Angel at least,
though not Himself; to hear some good news of Him, though
not see Him at the first. Certain it is with ungentes un-
gerdury ^none shall seek ever to anoint Him, but they shall be
anointed by Him again,' one way or other ; and find, though
not always what they seek, yet some supply that shall be

280 Of the Resurrection.

8 E R M. worth the while. And this we may reckon of, it shall never

HI. /. -1

fail us.

II. To follow this farther. Leave we these good women, and

by w^^: come first to the Angel, the messenger, and after to his mes-
the AngeL ^^^ ^^ Angel was the messenger, for none other me»-
Lu. 2. 10. senger was meet for this message. For if His birth were
tidings of so great joy as none but an Angel was meet to
report it, His Resurrection is as much. As much ? nay, much
more. As much ; for His resurrection is itself a birth too.
Acts 13. 33. To it doth the Apostle apply the verse in the Psalm, "This
day have I begotten Thee." Even this day when He was
born anew, tanquam ex utero sepulchriy * from the womb of the
grave.' As much then, yea much more. For the news of
His birth might well have been brought by a mortal, it was
but His entry into a mortal life ; but this here not properly
Mat22.30. but by an Angel, for that in the Resurrection we shall be
" like the Angels," and shall die no more ; and therefore an
immortal messenger was meetest for it.
I; . We first begin with what they saw, — the vision. They

* saw an Angel in the sepulchre. An Angel in a sepulchre is
a very strange sight. A sepulchre is but an homely place-
neither savoury, nor sightly, for an Angel to come in. The
place of dead men's bones, of stench, of worms, and of rotten-
ness; — What doth an Angel there? Indeed, no Angel ever
came there till this morning. Not till Christ had been there;
but, since His body was there, a great change hath ensued.
He hath left there odorem vitce, and changed the grave into a
place of rest. That not only this Angel here now, but after
Joh. 20. 12. this, two more, yea divers Angels upon divers occasions, this
day did visit and frequent this place. Which very finding of
the Angels thus, in the place of dead bodies, may be and
is to us a pledge, that there is a possibility and hope, that the
dead bodies may come also into the place of Angels. Why
not the bodies in the grave to be in Heaven one day, as well
as the Angels of Heaven to be in the grave this day ?
The man- This for the vision. The next for the manner of his
appearing, appearing, in what form he shewed himself. A matter worth
our stay a little as a good introduction to us, in him as in a
mirror to see what shall be the state of us and our bodies in
the Resurrection, inasmuch as it is expressly promised we

Of the Resurrection. 23 1

shall then be laar/^eKoiy ^^like and equal to the Angels them- Hat22.80.
selves."

2. They saw " a young man," one in the vigour and i. As "a
strength of his years, and such shall be our estate then ; all ma^
age, sickness, infirmity removed clean away. Therefore it
was also that the Resurrection fell in the spring, the freshest
time of the year; and in the morning, the freshest time of
the day, when saith Esay '* the dew is on the herbs." There- isa. 26. 19.
fore, that it was in a garden, (so it was in Joseph of Arimathea's
garden) that look, as that garden was at that time of the year,
the spring, so shall our estate then be in the very flower and
prime of it

They saw him "sitting," which is we know the site of rest 2. «Sit-
and quietness, of them that are at ease. To shew us a second °^
quality of our estate then ; that in it all labour shall cease, all
motions rest, all troubles come utterly to an end for ever, and
the state of it a quiet, a restful state.

They saw him sit " on the riffht side." And that side is the 8. « On the
side of pre-eminence and honour, to shew that those also "^ **
shall accompany us rising again. That we may fall on the
left side, but we shall rise on the right ; be " sown in dis- iCor.i6.43.
honour," but shall " rise again in honour," that honour which
His Saints and Angels have and shall have for ever.

Lastly, they saw him "clothed all in white." And white is 4. "Clothed
the colour of gladness, as we find Eccles. 9. 8. All to shew ^ J g
still, that it shall be a state, as of strength, rest, and honour,
so of joy likewise. And that, robe-wise; not short or scant,
but as his stole, all over, down to the ground.

Neither serves it alone to shew us, what then we shall be,
but withal what now we ought to be this day, the day of His
rising. In that we see, that as the heavens at the time of Mat.27.45.
His Passion were in black, by the great eclipse shewing us it
was then a time of mourning ; so this day the Angels were all
in white, to teach us thereby with what affection, with how
great joy and gladness, we are to celebrate and solemnize this
feast of our Saviour's rising.

Their affection here was otherwise, and that is somewhat 8.
strange. In the apparition there was nothing fearful as ye affecting
see, yet it is said, " they were afraid." Even now they *^®"^* •
Feared nothing, and now they fall to be afraid at this so

232 Of the Resurrection.

s E R Iff. comfortable a sight. Had they been guilty to themselves of

'- — any evil they came to do, well might they then have feared,

God first, as the malefactor doth the judge, and then His

Angel, as the executioner of His wrath. But their coming was

for good. But I find it is not the sinner's case only, but even

Gen. 15.12. of the best of our nature. Look the Scripture ; Abraham and

Lu. 1. 12. J^col> i° the Old, Zachary and the Blessed Vii^in in the

Lu. 1. 29. New, all strucken with fear still, at the sight of good Angels;

yea even then, when they came for their good.

It fareth with the Angels of light, as it doth with the light
itself. Sore eyes and weak cannot endure it, no more can
sinners them. No more can the strongest sight neither bear
the light, if the object be too excellent, if it be not tempered
to a certain proportion ; otherwise, even to the best that is,
is the light offensive. And that is their case. Afraid they
are, not for any evil they were about, but for that our very
nature is now so decayed, nt lucem ad quam nata est sustinere
nequeaty as the Angels' brightness, for whose society we were
created, yet as now we are, bear it we cannot, but need to be
comforted at the sight of a comfortable Angel. It is not the
messenger angelical, but the message evangelical that must
do it.
III. Which leadeth us along from the vision that feared them,

ga^. " to the message itself that relieved them ; which is the third
part. The stone lay not more heavy on the grave, than did
that fear on their hearts, pressing them down hard. And no
less needful was it, the Angel should roll it away, this spiritual
great stone from their hearts, than he did that other material
from the sepulchre itself. With that he begins.
1. «*Fear 1. '^ Fear not." A meet text for him, that maketh a
sermon at a sepulchre. For the fear of that place maketh us
Heb. 2. 16. out of quiet all our life long. It lieth at our heart like a
stone, and no way there is to make us willing to go thither,
but by putting us out of fear ; by putting us in hope, that the
great stones shall be rolled away again from our sepulchres,
and we from thence rise to a better life. It is a right begin-
ning for an Easter-day's sermon, nolite timere,

2. And a good reason he yields, why not. For it is not
every body's case, this nolite timere vosy ^' fear not you.'' Why
not? For "you seek Jesus of Nazareth Which hath been

Of the Resurrection. 233

crucified." *' Nazareth" might keep you back, the meanness
of His birth, and "crucified" more, the reproach of His
death. Inasmuch as these cannot let you, but ye seek
Him; are ashamed neither of His poor birth, nor of His
shameful death, but seek Him ; and seek Him, not as some
did when He was alive, when good was to be done by Him,
but even now, dead, when nothing is to be gotten ; and not
to rob or rifle Him, but to embalm Him, an office of love and
kindness, (this touched before) " fear not you," nor let any
fear that so seek Him.

Now, that they may not fear. He imparts them His
message full of comfort. And it containeth four comforts of
hope, answerable to the four former proofs of their love :
1. "He is risen;" 2. But "gone before you;" 3. "Ye shall
see Him f 4. " All His Disciples," " Peter'' and all ; " Go tell
them so."

In that you thus testify your love in seeking Him, I dare l. "Heis
say ye had rather He ye thus come to embalm, that He were ™^*
alive again ; and no more joyful tidings could come to you
than that He were so. Ye could I dare say with all your
hearts be content to lose all your charge you have been at, in
buying your odours, on condition it were so. Therefore I
certify you that He is alive. He is risen. No more than Gaza Judg.i6 ».
gates could hold Samson, or the whale Jonas, no more could Jonah2.io.
this stone keep Him in the sepulchre, but risen He is.

First, of this ye were sure, here He was : ye were at His
laying in, ye saw the stone sealed, and the watch set, so that
here He was. But here He is not now ; come see the place,
trust your own eyes, non est hie.

But what of that, this is but a lame consequence for all
that ; He is not here, therefore He is risen. For may it not
be. He hath been taken away? Not with any likelihood;
though such a thing will be given out, that the Disciples Mat.28.i3w
Jtole Him away while the watch was asleep. But your
reason will give you ; 1. small probability there is, they could
3e asleep, all the ground shaking and tottering under them
3y means of the earthquake. 2. And secondly, if they did Mat 28. 2.
jleep for all that, yet then could they not tell sleeping, how,
)r by whom. He was taken away. 3. And thirdly, that His
Disciples should do it ; they you know of all other were utterly

234 Of the ResurrecHoTL

s E R M. unlike to do any such thing; so fearful as miserably they fo>

■ — sook Him yet alive^ and have ever since shut themselves up

since He was dead. 4. And fourthly, if they durst have
done such a thing, they would have taken Him away, linen,
clothes, and all, as fearful men will make all the haste they
can possibly, and not stood stripping Him and wrapping up
the clothes, and laying them every parcel, one by one in
order, as men use to do that have time enough and take deli-
beration, as being in no haste, or fear at alL To you there-
fore, as we say, ad hominem, this consequence is good; not
taken away, and not here, therefore risen He is.
**Hei8 But to put all out of doubt, you shall trust your own

^®. eyes; videbitis, *you shall see' it is so; you shall see Him.
Indeed, non hie would not serve their turns ; He knew their
question would be. Where is He ? Gone He is ; not quite
gone, but only gone before, which is the second comfort ; for
if He be but gone before, we have hope to follow after; /
pr(B^ seqtiar; so is the nature of relatives. But that we
may follow then, whither is He gone? Whither He told
ye Himself, a little before His Passion, chap. 14. 28. "into
Galilee.^'

1. No meeter place for Jesus of Nazareth to go, than to

Ifat. 2. 28. " Galilee :^' there He is best known, there in Nazareth He was

Job. 2. 1. brought up, there in Cana He did His first miracle, shewed

His first glory — meet therefore to see His last; there in

Capernaum, and the coasts about, preached most, bestowed

most of His labour.

Mat 4. 15. 2. " Galilee ;" it was called " Galilee of the Gentiles,'^ for it

was in the confines of them ; to shew. His Resurrection, tan-

quam in meditullio^ ^ as in a middle indifferent place,' reacheth

Jonah 3. 3. to both ; conccmeth and benefiteth both alike. As Jonas

after his resurrection went to Nineveh, so Christ after His

to Galilee of the Gentiles.

3. "Galilee;" that from Galilee, the place from whence
they said, No good thing could ever come. He might bring
one of the best things, and of most comfort that ever was;
the sight and comfort of His Resurrection.

4. " Galilee" last, for Galilee signifieth a revolution or turn-
ing about to the first point, whither they must go that shall
see Him, or have any part or fellowship in this feast of His

Of the Resurrection. 285

£esurrection. Thither is He gone before, and thither if
je follow, there ye shall see Him.

This is the third comfort, and it is one indeed. For sight 8. *«Ye
is the sense of certainty, and all that they can desire, and h^L.''**
there they did see Him. Not these here only, or the twelve
only, or the one hundred and twenty names, in Acts 1. only. Acts 1. 16.
but even five hundred of them at once, saith the Apostle ; a iCor.16.6.
whole "cloud of witnesses," to put it clean out of question. [Heb.i2.i.]
And of purpose doth the Angel point to that apparition,
vfrhich was the most famous and public of all the ten.

This was good news for those here, and they were worthy 4. And
of it, seeking Him as they did. But what shall become of ci^^ "
the rest, namely of His Disciples that lost Him alive, and ^®^^7
seek Him not dead ? They shall never see Him more ? Yes
(which is evangelicuniy *good tidings' indeed, the chief comfort
of all) they too that left Him so shamefully but three days
ago, them He casts not off, but will be glad to see them in
Galilee. Well, whatsoever become of other, Peter that so
foully forsook, and forsware Him both, he shall never see Him
more ? Yes, Peter too, and Peter by name. And indeed, it
is more than needful He should name him, he had greatest
cause of doubt ; the greatest stone upon him to be rolled away
of any, that had so often with oaths and execrations so utterly
renounced Him. This is a good message for him, and Mary Marki4.7i.
Magdalene as fit a messenger as can be to carry it, one great
sinner to another. That not only Christ is risen, but content
that His forsakers, deniers, forswearers, Peter and all, should
repair to Him the day of His Resurrection ; that all the deadly
wounds of His Passion have not killed His compassion over
sinners ; that though they have made wrack of their duty, yet
He hath not lost His mercy, not left it in the grave, but is as
ready to receive them as ever. His Resurrection hath made
Qo change in Him. Dying and rising. He is to sinners still
one and the same, still like Himself, a kind, loving, and mer-
cifiil Saviour. This is the last; Peter and all may see Him.

And with this He dismisseth them, with ite et dicitey with a 2.
commission and precept, by virtue whereof He maketh these mMoiu'"'
women Apostolos Apostolorum, ^Apostles to the Apostles
themselves,' — for this article of the Resurrection did they first
learn of these women, and they were the first of all that .

236 Of the Resurrection.

8 E R M. preached this Gospel — giving them in charge, that seeing this

'• — day b a day of glad tidings, they would not conceal it, but

impart it to others, even to so many as then were, or would
ever after be Christ's disciples.

They came to embalm Christ's body natural ; that needs it
not, it is past embalming now. But another Body He hath,
a mystical body, a company of those that had believed in
Him, though weakly ; that they would go and anoint them^
for they need it. They sit drying away, what with fear, what
with remorse of their unkind dealing with Him ; they need
to have some oil, some balm to supple them. That they do
with this Gospel, with these four ; of which four ingredients
is made the balm of this day.

Thus we see, these that were at cost to anoint Christ were
fully recompensed for the costs they had been at ; themselves
anointed with oil and odours of a higher nature, and far more '
P8.45. 7. precious than those they brought with them. Oleum Icetitue,
2Cor.2.i6. saith the Psalm, Odor vitce^ saith the Apostle. And that so
plenteously, as there is enough for themselves, enough too for
others, for His Disciples, for Peter and all.
Theappii- But what is this to us? Sure, as we learned by way of
duty how to seek Christ after their example, so seeking
Him in that manner, by way of reward we hope to have our
part in this good news no less than they.
Eph. 4. 15. 1. ^'Christ is risen.'' That concerneth us alike. "The head'*
Roiil11.16. is got above the water, ** the root'' hath received life and sap,
1 Cor. 15. " the first fruits" are lift up and consecrate ; we no less than
they, as His members. His branches. His field, recover to this
hope.

2. And for His going before, that which the Angel said
here once, is ever true. He is not gone quite away. He is
but gone before us; He is but the antecedent, we as the
consequent to be inferred after. Yea, though He be gone to
Galilcea superior, * the Galilee that is above,' Heaven, the place
of the celestial spheres and revolutions, even thither is He
gone, not as a party absolute, of or for Himself, but as "a
Heb. 6. 20. Harbinger," saith the Apostle, with relation to others that are
coming after, for whom He goeth before to take up a place.
So the Apostle there, so the Angel here. So He Himself,
Joh. 14. 2. Vado ; not Vado alone, but Vado parare locum vobis, " I go

Of the ResurrectioTU 237

to prepare a place wherein to receive you," when the number
of you and your brethren shall be full.

3. To us likewise pertaineth the third videbitis, that is, the
Gospel indeed. « He is risen." Rising of itself is no Gospel,
but He is risen and we shall see Him ; that is it. That the
time will come also, that we shall see Him in the Galilee
celestial that is above ; yea, that all shall see Him, even " they [Rev. 1.7.]
that pierced Him." But they that came to embalm Him, with Job. 19.87.
joy and lifting up their heads they shall see Him ; with that

sight shall they see Him, That shall evermore make them
blessed.

4. Lastly, which is worth all the rest. That we shall not
need to be dismayed with our unworthiness, in that willing
He is Peter should have word of this, and Mary Magdalene
should carry it. That such as they were, sinners, and chief
sinners, should have these tidings told them, this Gospel
preached them ; that He is as ready to receive them to grace as
any of the rest, and will be as glad to see them as any others
in Galilee.

But then are we to remember the condition, that here we
get us into Galilee, or else it will not be. And Galilee is ' a
revolution, or turning^ ad principia * to the first point,' as doth
the Zodiac at this time of the year. The time of His resur-
rection is paschttj * a passing over ;' the place Galilee, * a turn-
ing about.' It remaineth then that we pass over as the time,
and turn as the place, putteth us in mind. Re-uniting our-
selves to His Body and Blood in this time of His rising, of
the dissolving and renting whereof our sins were the cause.
The time of His suflFering, keeping the feast of Christ our
new Passover oflFered for us; leaving whatsoever formerly
hath been amiss in Christ's grave as the weeds of our dead
estate, and rising to newness of life, that so we may have our
parts " in the first resurrection ;" which they are happy and Rev. 20. 6.
blessed that shall have, for by it they are sure of the second.
Of which blessing and happiness^ He vouchsafe to make us
all partakers. That this day rose for us, Jesus Christ the
righteous !

A SEEMON

PRSACHSD BXrOBB

THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE SIXTEENTH OF APRIL, A.D. MDGIX., BEING EASTER-DAY.

John xx. 19.

The same day theriy at nighty which was the first day ofthetoeeky
and when the doors were shut where the Disciples toere
assembled for fear of the JewSy came JesuSy and stood in the
midsty and said to them. Peace be unto you.

Cum ergo sero esset die illo, una sabbatorum, et fores essent clausa,
ubi erant DiscipuH congregaH propter metum Judaorum, venit
Jesus, et stetit in medio, et dixit eis. Pax vobis.

[Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when
the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of
the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them,
Peace be unto you, Eng. Trans.]

S E R M. This is the interview of Christ and His Disciples, and this

TV • *

— His first speech at His first interview ; both this day, the

very first day of His rising.

Mark 16. 9. Five Sundry times appeared He this day. To Mary

Lu*24 16* Magdalene, to the women coming from the sepulchre, to the

Lu. 24. 84. two that went to Emmaus, to St. Peter, and here now to the

In text. Eleven and those that were with them. The two first to

women, the three last to men ; so both sexes. To Peter

and to Mary Magdalene, so to sinners of both sexes. To

the Eleven as the Clergy, to those with them, as the Laity :

so, to both estates. Abroad at Emmaus, at home here.

Betimes, and now late. When they were scattered severally,

and now jointly when they were gathered together. That no

Lu. 1. 78. sex, sort, estate, place or time excepted, but as visitavit nos

oriens ab alto, so visitavit occidens ab imo ; * rising firom above

Of the Resurrection. 239

at His birth, rising from beneath at His resurrection, He
visited all.'

But of all the five, this is the chief. Those were to one,
as Peter ; or two, as those of Emmaus ; or three, as the women.
This to all ; the more, the more witnesses, the better for faith.
Those when they were scattered ; this here when they were
all together. The more together, the more meet for this
salutation here. Peace be to you.

Which salutation is the very substance of the text, the rest The du
but appendant all. I.*

In it, two things give forth themselves : 1. The persons to
whom, vobis. 2. The matter of the wish itself, " peace." The
persons are thus set down : Disdpuliy congregate conclusi.
1. His "Disciples" they were, 2. "gathered," 3. and "the
doors shut" on them " for fear of the Jews."

There will fall out besides four other points. 1. Christ^s
site ; that He stood, when He wished it. 2. His place ; that
in the midst He stood. 3. The time ; all this, the same day,
the first day of the week, Sunday, Easter-day : 4. and the
very time of the day, that it was late.

The speech of itself is a salutation ; any will so conceive it li.
at the first hearing. And if it were but so, and no more, that
were enough. Christ's salutations are not, as ours be, formal,
but good matter in them.

But it is more than a salutation, say the Pathers, for this
reason. At meeting men use to salute but once : within a
verse, he repeateth it again. So it keeps not the law of a
salutation, but it is certainly somewhat besides. Votum Christie
they call it. Votum pads, votum Christi ; * Christ's vow, or
wrish j' His vow, and His first vow.

Now every vow implieth an advice at the least. What
Christ wisheth to us. He wisheth us to. Every wish so.
But if it be the wish of a superior in His optative, there is an
imperative; His wish is a command, if he have wit that hears
it. So that these words, rightly understood, are both an
advice, and an injunction to it, of the nature of an edict.
Pax vobis is as much as Pacem habete in vohis^ " be at peace Mark 9. 60.
imong yourselves."

We are then to join with Christ, to follow Him in His
Bvish. To whom He wisheth it; to all Christ's Disciples

24 Of the Sesurrectian.

S K R M. together, even to His whole Christian Church ; and even to

— them that, it may be, as little deserve it, as these here dii

1. To make it caput votiy * our first vow ;' yea, first and second,
as Christ here did. 2. Oportet stantem optarey ^ to wish it
standing/ 3. And standing where Christ stood, that is
material, " in the midst." 4. This day to do it, and think it
pertinent to the time ; it is votum paschale. As for sero, ve
shall never need to take thought for it, it is never too soon ;
late enough always if it be not too late, that is all the fear.
I. The chief point first : Pax vobis. The words are but two,

Bonaipart yet even between them there seemeth to be no peace, but
saiutotion. ^"^ ^" ^ manner opposite to the other. Looking to vobU,
^^and tije persons, this should not be a salutation for them, pax,
recon- Looking to the salutation, " peace," it should not be to those
persons, vobisy " to you." So that our first work will be, to
make peace between the two words.

Vobisy "to you." Will you know who they be? "To
you,'' Peter, and John, and the rest " To you," of whom none
Mat.26.56. stood by Me. "To you,'' of whom some ran away, some
Mat26.72. denied, yea forsware Me. " To you," of whom all, every one
Wariti4.60. shrunk away and forsook Me. How evil doth this greeting
agree with this vobis I Yet even to these, venit, et stetity et
[Joh. 20. dixit; " He came, stood, and said. Peace be to you."

Used by them as He had been, no cause He should come,

or stand, or speak at all ; or if speak, not thus. Not come to

them that went from Him, nor stand amongst them that had

not stood to Him, nor speak to them that had renounced

Joh 9. 22. Him. It is said, " they feared the Jews." All things considered,

they had more cause to fear Him, and to look for some real

revenge at His hands. If not that, some verbal reproof, a

salutation of another style or tenor ; and well, if they might

Ps. 107. 1. scape so. Confitemini Domino, quia bonus : — it is not so,

no evil deed for all this, no, not so much as an unkind word.

Above that they could look for, far above that they deserved

it is; Pax vobis. You and I are at peace, you and I are

friends ; " Peace be unto you." This is His first goodness,

His making a peace between pax and vobis.

lUo die. This speech to these persons is much mended by adding

Frmo*die, the time in the text, that it was illo die, the day of His rising.

Pax vobis is a good speech for Good-Friday ; then men grow

Of the Besurrectiom 241

charitable, when ready to die. But on their Easter-day, at

their rising, the day when exultavit JEum Deus, *the day of their Phil. 2. 9.

exaltation,' they use to take other manner spirits, and remember

Pormer disgraces, with a far other congie. H(Bc est lex hominis ;

men do thus, but not Christ, Neither their indignity, vobis;

flor His own dignity changeth Him. Rising, exalted, the very

lay of His exaltation, illo die, He saith, " Peace be unto you."

Another yet : that it was prima sabbati, the very " first day prmA
rf the week ;" took no long day for it, nay, no day at all, but Lt^4. i.
the very first day. Joseph exalted dealt well with his
brethren, but not the first day ; it was some time first He
kept them in fear a while, but shewed himself at the last.
Christ doth not so hold them in suspense : illo die, primo die^
** the same day, the first day," He came, and shewed Himself
and said, ** Peace be unto you."

Yea, not so much as dixit here but, as it falls out, will bear j^ixit, not
a note. Even that it is dixit, and not respandit; a speech not '"^^p*'^'**
an answer. That He spake it, unspoken to; He to them
first, ere they to Him. He might well have stayed till then,
and reason would they should first have sued for it. Ere
they ask it He giveth it, and '* prevents them with the Ps. 2i. 3.
blessing of peace." They first in falling out. He first at
making friends.

A great comfort for poor sinners, when the many indignities
we have offered Christ shall present themselves before us, to
think of this vobis. That when the Disciples had done the
like, yet He forgat all, and spake thus kindly to them this
day ; that He will vouchsafe us the like, specially if we seek it
He will, and say to us. Pax vobis.

Will ye remember now to extend your wish of peace 1. to them
that, it may be, deserve it as evil as these here, even his qui
huge f 2. To do it at our rising, at our high day, when it is
Easter with us ; 3. not to make their hearts to pant, and eyes
to fail first, but even primd sabbati to do it 4. And not to
take state upon us, and be content to answer Peace, and not
speak ; be moved for it, but not move it ; yes, even move it
first If we do, we join with Christ in His first part, the
personal part of the wish.

lUis, and illo die, and primo die, what they were we see, 2
and in what sort Yet not to grate on this point altogether, sons?^

_ whom.

{

242 Of tli£ Resurrection,

S £ K M. some smoke yet was there in the flax, some small remainders^

P^ ' — illices misericordicB, as Tertullian, to move his mercy. In these

de Poenit words, 1 . DiscipuUy 2. congregatiy 3. conclusiy 4. propter timo-

rem JudcBorum: that His ** Disciples" yet they were; and

** together" they were ; and " in fear of the Jews" they were

" shut up."

'1. Hia Whatsoever, or howsoever they were else, yet they were His

pies." Disciples; " unprofitable servants," yet servants : "lost" sons,

J'^JJ'^^'yet sons: forgetful Disciples, yet Disciples. His Disciples

they were, and howsoever they had made a fault, as it

seemeth, so meant to hold themselves still, and hereafter

to learn their lesson better.

2. "For And I like well their fear, that they were a&aid of the
Jews." Jews. It shews there were no good terms betwixt them, and

that they shut their doors upon them ; therefore they meant
not to go out to them, or seek Pax vobis of the Jews. They
had no meaning it seemeth to give over Christ. If they had,
what need they fear the Jews ? The Jews would have done
them no harm, they might have set open their doors well
enough.

3. "Assem- And couffreffatisy I take it well, is no evil sign. It would

have been ex alid causd, for love rather than fear ; and again,
for fear of God, rather than of the Jews. Yet even thus
I mislike it not, and much better this fear, than that at the
Passion. That scattered them one from another, every man
shift for one. This makes them draw together, and keep
together, as if they meant to stand out afresh. Which very
congregatis makes them fit for this salutation. It cannot well
be said, disgregatisy *to them that are in sunder.' Una is
a disposition to unity ; and gathering, to the binding up in the
Mat.23.37. band of peace. Christ that said, Quoties volui congregare'^
liked it well, to find them thus together ; and His coming
was, as to take away their fear, so to continue their gathering
still.

And shall we learn this of the Disciples? 1. If a fault fall
out, not to give over school, but to continue our discipleship
still. 2. And not to go over, to seek our Pax vobis at the hands
of His enemies; to shut out both them, and their peace too.
3. And lastly, not to forsake the fellowship, to keep together
still. For being so together, we are nearer oiu: peace. This

Of the Resurrection, 243

shall make Christ come and say it to us the sooner, and the
more willingly.

The real part, voH summa, that which He wisheth, is '* peace." ii.
First, Why peace ? then. What peace ? '^^^

Why peace? Is there nothing more worth the wishing? i-
Nothing more, of itself; nothing more fit for these persons, «• peace?"
this place, and this time ?

Of itself, votum pacts summa votorum, * It is all wishes in
one/ nothing more to be wished. For in brevi voce hreviarium^
* this little word is a breviary of alP that good is.

To shew how, a little ; quam bonum, " how good," how i. As good.
worth the wishing it is. It is tarn bonum^ 'so good,' aSpJ|^^^^g^*
without it nothing is good. With it, saith Solomon, ** an 16, 17.
handful of herbs ;" without it, *' an house full of sacrifices Prov. 17. i.
is not good." With trouble and vexation nothing is good,
nothing is to be wished.

And as without it nothing is to be wished, so all that is to
be wished, all good, is within it. JEvangelizanHum pacem^ Rom.io.i5.
eoangelizantium bona, quia in pace omnia bona : ^^ to bring
news of peace, is to bring news of all good things,*' * for all
good things are in peace.' Bona is the true gloss or expo-
sition of peace.

Quam bonum, you know, and quam jucundum too. But 2. Piea-
good and pleasant j and pleasant, not only as Aaron's pg ^33 1,
ointment which was only pleasant, but as Hermon dew 3. Profit-
which brings profit with it. Abundantia pacisy saith the pg. 72. 7,
Psalm, ** peace and plenty" go together.

And yet, how much it is to be wished, this sheweth, pacem 4. Wished

l)v all

te poscimus omnes. All wish it. Angels wish it. Heaven
to earth, pax in terris ; and men wish it, earth to Heaven, Lu. 2. 14.
pajc in Ccelis. God wisheth it, most kindly for Him ; Deus
pads, pacem Dei ; *' the God of peace," " the peace of God." 2 Cor. 13.
Yea the enemy of all peace wisheth it, for he complains, Phu. 4. 7.
Venisti nos inquietare, " Are ye come to trouble us ?" So he Lu. 4. 34.
would not be troubled that troubles all, but set all together by
the ears, and sit quiet himself.

But it is much for the honour of peace, that cum bellum
geritur, pax quceritur. Even military persons, with sword in
one hand and fire in the other, give this for their emblem,
sic qucmmus pacem, *thus, with sword and fire, seek wc

R 2

244 Of the Resurrection.

S£RM. peace.' As seek it at last they must; we must all. Best

— primd sabbati, but sero, * sooner or later,' come to it we must:

if it be not the first, it must be our last.

2. And by But if there were nothing else, this only were enough, and

often. though there be many, this chiefly doth shew it ; that oar

Saviour Christ so often, so divers ways, so earnestly wisheth

Job. 14. 27. it. Going He did it, Pacem Meam do vobis. And now

Joh. 16. 83. coming, He doth it. Sitting, He did it ; and now, standing.

Lu. 2. 14. Living, when He was born, Pax in terrisy Xenium Christie *it

was Christ's New-year's gift.' Dying, when He was to suffer,

Joh. 14. 27. Pacem Meam relinquo vobisy it was legatum Christie ^ Christ's

legacy.' And now here rising again, it is His wish still. To

shew, not only the good of this life, but of the next, to be in

Joh. 17. 21. peace. Prayed for it, paid for it, wept for it ; ** O if thou

j'h.^a.^^ hadst known the things that pertain to thy peace !" Wept

paasim. for it, and bled for it : therefore immediately, the very next.

words, He sheweth them His hands and His side, as much to

say ; See what I have suffered to procure your peace. Your

peace cost Me this. Pax vobis cost CruxMihi ; — see you hold it

dear. Now sure, if thece were any one thing better than

other, those hands would not have withheld it, and that

heart would wish it. And peace it doth wish, therefore

nothing more to be wished. Complete it is, Votum pack

summa votorum.

There need no other sign be given but that of the Prophet
Jonas, that Christ wished His wish: so the tempest may
Jonah 1. cease, and peace as a calm ensue, spare me not, '^ take me,
cast me into the sea," make me a peace-offering and kill me.
This is enough to shew it is to be wished, to make it precious
in our eyes. For we undervalue it at too low a rate, when
that which cost so dear, for every trifling ceremony we are
ready to lose it. Our faint persuasion in this point is the
cause we are faint in all the rest.

Well, though this be thus good, yet good itself is not good,

unless it be in season, come fitly. Doth this so? Every

way fitly. 1. For the persons ; 2. For the place ; 3. and

for the time.

I. The persons; both 1. Christ by Whom, and 2. they to

fithrfor^ whom it is wished. 1. Christ, by Whom; decet largUorem

the per- pads hcBc salutotio, saith Cyril. * It is meet for Him to give

sons.

Of the Resurrection, 24i5

peace That made peace ;' nay^ Ipse est pax nostra^ saitb the i. By
Apostle, and for peace^ what fitter salutation than peace ? chr^

2. They to whom, for they needed it. With God they ^P^;^^. 14.
had no peace. Whom they had provoked ; nor peace with whom :
men^ nor with the Jews about them ; nor peace with them- cipies.
selves, for they were in fear, and night-fear, which is the ^9^
worst of all others. Fit for them, and they for it, for together loc.]
they were, and so not unfit to entertain it

And with the place it suiteth welL For they were shut up, 2.
as men environed and beleagured with their enemies, concltisi place.
et derelictiy 'shut up and forsaken;' and to such peace is ever
welcome.

And for the time, seasonable. For after a falling out, 8.
peace is so ; and after a victory^ peace is so. Fit therefore time.
for this day, the day of the Resurrection ; for till then it was
not in kind. The great battle was not fought, ** the last iCor.i6.26.
enemy, death,*' was not overcome. Never till now, but now
the last enemy is conquered, now it is in season.

And for the thing itself, peace is a kind of resurrection. 4.
When Christ was risen. His Disciples were dead. Those thine
dead affections of sorrow and fear, when they seize throughly |>eace^ a
upon men, what are they but mors ante mortem ? Upon J^|^^"
good news of Joseph, Jacob b said to ** revive,** as if before Gen. 45.27.
he had been given for dead. It was their case here. The
house was to them as their grave, and the door as the grave-
stone, and they buried in fear. When they saw him, in the
next verse, and were thus saluted by Him, they gat hope,
were glad, that is, revived again. For if those were the
pangs of death, peace after a sort is a resurrection ; and so a
fit wish for the time.

And to say truth, peace is never kindly till then. They Never
define felicity shortly, to be nothing else but pax desiderii ^^^^ *"*
For give the desire perfect peace, and no more needs to make
us happy. Desire hath no rest, and will let us have none,
till it have what it would, and till the Resurrection that will
not be.

1. Pax etpressura^ our Saviour opposeth. If we be pinched Joh. 16.33.
with any want, desire hath no peace. 2. Let us want
nothing if it were possible. No peace yet; pax et scandalum Ps. ii9.
the Psalmist opposeth. When we have what we would, some-

246 Of the Besurreetion.

s E R M. what Cometh to us we would not. somewhat thwarts us. Till

IV

— nan est eis sccmdidum, till that be had away, deske hath no

peace. 3. Let that be had away, yet a new war there
Cometh. Peace and fear are here opposed. We are well;
neither pressura nor scandaluniy but we fear toUetur a vobist
that it will not hold, or we shall not hold. " The last enemj"
will not let us be quiet. Till he "be overcome," our desire
hath no perfect peace. That will not be till the Resurrection.
But then it is pax plena^ pura, perpetua; 'fiilP without want,
* pmre' without mixture of oflTensive matter, and * perpetual*
without all fear of foregoing, of toUetur a veins. And that is
pax desideriiy and that is perfect felicity; the state of the
Resurrection, and the wish of the Resurrection day.
2. What Thus we see good it is, and fit it is. It remains we see
^^^^^' what it is, what peace. When we speak of peace, the nature
of the word leadeth us to ask, With whom ? And they be
diverse. But as diverse as they be, it must be understood of
all, though of some one more especially than the rest

1. Peace There is a peace above us in Heaven with God ; that first.
^* * They were wrong here, their fear ran all upon the Jews, it

should have looked higher. The Jews they kept out with
shutting their doors; against God no door can be shut
First, peace with Him ; and with Him they have peace, to
whom Christ saith Pax vobis,

2. With There is another peace within us, in sinu, * with our heart'
hearte!^ For between our spirit and our flesh there is in manner of
[Gai.5.17.] a war. "The lusts of the flesh" even militant, "wage war,**
1 Pet 2.11. saith St. Peter, "against the soul;" and where there is a war,

there is a peace too. This is peace with fear, here. Which
war is sometime so fearful, as men to rid themselves of it, rid
themselves of life and all, conclude a peace there. This
foUoweth of the first; if all be well above, all is well
within.

3. With all There is a peace without us, in earth with men, with all

men. The Apostle warrants it; peace with the Jews here
[Heb. 12. and all. I will never fear to make civil peace a part of
Mat 6. 9. Christ's wish, nor of His beati pacijici neither. He will be

no worse at Easter, than at Christmas He was; at this His
Tertui. second, than at that His first birth. Then Janus was shut,
[c. 30.] and peace over all the world. Orbem pacatum was ever a

Of the Resurrection. 247

clause in the prayers of the Primitive Church, that the worid
might be quiet

Yet is not this the peace of Christ's principal intendment^ 4- Among
but their peace to whom Christ spake^ Pax discipulorumy Pax selves
voins inter vos; 'Peace among them^ or between themselves.'
it was " the ointment on Aaron's head," Aaron that had the Pa. 133. 2,
care of the Church. It was " the dew" that fell upon Sion, *
Sion the place where the Temple stood. *'The peace of
Jerusalem/' that it may be once *' as a city at unity within Ps. 122. 3.
itself." The primitive peace, that " the multitude of believers"
may be ** of one heart and one mind." All the rest depend Acts 4. 82.
upon our peace with God, and our peace with Him upon
this; pacem habete inter vos, and Deus pads erit i;o6wcm?w. Mark9.50.
" The peace of Jerusalem," " they shall prosper that love it/' ^^^\^ ^
saith David. ** Joy shall be to them that counsel it," saith Prov.12.20.
Solomon. « Blessed" shall they be that make it, saith Christ. Mat. 5. 9.
How great a reward should he find in Heaven, how glorious a
name should he leave on earth, that could bring this to pass !

This is Christ's wish, and what is become of it ? If we look 1. Pea,ce,
upon the Christian world, we see it not, it is gone as if Christ wish! ^
had never wished it.r Between Jehu and Jeroboam, Solomon's
seed went to rack. Jehu's proceedings, like his chariot-
wheels, headlong and violent But Jehu is but a brunt, too
violent to last long. Jeroboam is more dangerous, who makes
it his wisdom to keep up a schism in religion; they shall
sway both parts more easily. God forbid we should ever
think Jeroboam wiser than Solomon! If peace were not a
wise thing, the wisest man's name should not have been
Solomon. *'A greater than Solomon" would never have Mat.12.42.
said Habete salem et pacem ; " if you have any salt, you will Mark 9. 50.
have peace." Sure, when the Disciples lost their peace, they
lost their wisdom; their wisdom and their strength both.
They were stronger by congregatis^ than by clausis foribus ;
* more safe by their being together, than any door could make
them.'

It is as Christ told us Luke 10, where He prescribes this
form of salutation: it speeds or it misses thereafter, as it
meets with "the Son of peace;" speeds if it find him, if not, Lu. 10. 5,6.
comes back again, and takes no place.

Well, though it do not, we must still hold us to Christ's

248 Of the Resurrection.

S E K M. wish, and when all fails, still there must be Votum pom ui
*- — corde ; thoagh enmity in the act, yet * peace in the heart still.'

Still it must hold, amicus ut non alter, inimicus ut non idem;

* friends as if never otherwise, enemies as if not ever so.' Qum

torrensy bellum; *war, like a land-flood,* that will be diy
[I8a.4s.i8.] again. Quasi Jluvius, pax; "peace, as a river," never dry,

but to run still and ever.
Jaa. 4. 8. But yet, many times " we ask and have not, because we ask

not aright," saith St. James ; *' we know not the things that

belong to our peace;" we err in the order, manner, site,

place, or time.

1. The order, which helpeth much, first it is; first, primum et
of it^fiS ^^^ omniay caput Jideiy * the prime of His wishes.' No sooner
wished, bom, but pcLX in terris ; no sooner risen, but pax vohis. Aper-

tio labioruniy ' the very opening of His lips' was with these
words ; the first words at the first meeting, on the very first
day. It is a sign it is so in His heart. That which most
grieveth us, we first complain of; and that which most
affecteth us, ever soonest speak of This is the first error.
That which was first with Christ, is last with Christians, and
I would it were so last; for then it were some, now scarce
any at all as it seemeth.

2. In the manner; for first is but first, that is but once. This
ne/: iSu?ce ^^ ^^^ ^^^ second. Here He saith it, and within a verse He
wished, ig ^^ j^ again. Nay first, second, and third, 1. in this, 2. the

twenty-first, and 3. the twenty -sixth verses; as if like actio
in Rhetoric, all in all.

All Christ's vows are to be esteemed, specially His solemn
vows; and His speeches, chiefly those He goeth over and
over again. That which by Him is double and treble said,
would not by us be singly regarded. He would have it better
marked ; therefore he speaketh it the second time. He would
have it yet sink deeper ; therefore the third also. We faulty
in the manner. Once we do it, it may be, but upon any
repulse we give over; if it come not at first, we go not to it
secundo et tertio, repetitis vicibus. We must not leave at once
that Christ did so oft.
2. His site The second error is ; we ask it sitting, I fear, and Christ
h'^Stetit Stood; His standing imports something. Standing is the
site of them that are ready to go about a matter, as they to

Of the Resurrection. 249

take their journey in the twelfth of Ezodus. That site is the Ex. 12. 11.
site of them that wish for peace ; opartet stantem aptare. A
sedentary desire it may be we have, but loath to leave our
cushion. We would it were well, but not willing to disease* nt.e.trou-

Die, or put

ourselves. Utinam hoc esset laborare, said he, that lay along ourselves
and stretched himself. So say we ; peace we would, but ^ ^^^^
standing is painful. Our wish hath lips, but no legs.

But it could not be said, " beautiful are the feet of them laa. 62. 7.
that bring peace," if the feet had nothing to do in this Rom.io.i5.
business. With sitting and wishing it will not be had. Peace Ps. 34. 14.
will hide itself, it must be sought out ; it will fly away, it must
be pursued. This then is a point wherein we are to conform
ourselves to Christ ; as well to use our legs, as to open our
lips for it. To stand, is situs voventis ; to hold up the hands,
habitus orantis. The meaning of which ceremony of lifting up
the hands with prayer is, ut pro quo quis orat pro eo laboret,
*what we pray for we should labour for;' what we wish for,
stand for. We see Christ sheweth His hands and His feet,
to shew what must be done with both for it. If we should be
put to do the like, I doubt our wish hath never a good leg to
stand on.

To stand then, but to stand in a certain place. Every 3. His
where to stand will not serve the turn. Stetit in medio, that ^n medio,
standing place is assigned for it, thus "guiding our feet into Lu- 1- "9.
the way of peace." And the place is material for peace. All
bodies natural never leave moving, are never quiet, till they
recover their proper places ; and there they find peace. The
midst is Christ^s place by nature ; He is the second Person By nature.
in DiviniSf and so the middlemost of the other two. And
on earth, follow Him if you will, you shall not lightly find
Him out of it ; not according to the letter, speaking of the
material place. At His birth, in medio animaliumy in the Lu. 2. 7.
stable. After, a child, in medio doctorum^ in the Temple. Lu. 2. 46.
After, a man, medius vestrum. stetit^ saitb John Baptist, " in Joh. 1. 26.
the midst of the people ;" saith He of * Himself,' Ecce ego in
medio vestri, " in the midst of His Apostles." At His death it Lu. 22.27.
fell to His turn likewise, that place ; even then. He was in the Lu. 23. 33.
midst. And now rising, there He is, we see. They in the
midst of the Jews, and He in the midst of them. After this,
in Patmos, St. John saw Him in Heaven, " in the midst of the Bev.7. 17.

250 Of the Resurrection.

13 E R M. Throne ;" in earthy walking ^^ in the midst of the candlesticks."
— And at the last day He shall be in the midst of" the sheep on

Sgv 1 13

Mat.25.83. ^^ right hand, and the goats on His left." All which shew,
the place and He sort very well

By office. But were it not natural for Him^ as the case standeth,

ator. " there He is to stand, being to give peace? No place so fit for
that purpose, none so kindly as it. His office being to be

1 Tim. 2. 6. « a Mediator/* Medius "between God and man," where
should a Mediator stand but in Medio f

The reason Besides, the two qualities of good, being to be diffusivum
and unitivum, that is the fittest place for both. To distribute
best done fi*om the centre. To unite likewise, soonest meet
there. The place itself hath a virtue specially to unite,
which is never done but by some middle thing. If we will
conclude, we must have a medius terminus; else we shall
never get mtyus and minus extremum to come together. Nor
in things natural either combine two elements disagreeing in
both qualities, without a middle symbolizing with both ; nor
flesh and bone, without a cartilage between both. As for
things moral, there the middle is all in all. No virtue with-
out it. In justice, incline the balance one way or other, the
even poise is lost, et opus justitice pax^ * peace is the very work
of justice.* And the way to peace is the mid-way ; neither
to the right hand too much, nor to the left hand too little.
In a word, all analogy, symmetry, harmony, in the world,
goeth by it.

It cometh all to this ; the manner of the place doth teach
us what manner of affection is to be in them, that wish for
or stand for peace. The place is indifferent, equally distant,
alike near to all. There pitch the ark, that is the place for it.
Indifferency in carriage preserveth peace ; by foregoing that,
and leaning to extremities, it is lost. Thither we must get
again, and there stand, if ever we shall recover it. Discessit a
medio lost it, stetit in medio must restore it.

Therefore, when you hear men talk of peace, mark whether
they stand where they should. If with the Pharisee to the
comers, either by partiality one way, or prejudice another, no
good will be done. When God will have it brought to pass,
such minds He will give unto men, and make them meet to
wish it, seek it, and find it.

Of the Resurrection. 26 1

A little now of the time. This was Christ's wish at this 4. The
time, and Christ never speaks out of season. Therefore a/niflbrfur.
special interest hath this feast in it. It is votum paschalej and
this is festum pacts.

And sure, Hdbemus tdlem consuetudinem^ et JScclesia Dei; iCor.ii.i6.
'such a custom we have, and so the Church of God hath
used it,' to take these words of Christ in the nature of an
edict for pacification, ever at this time. That whatsoever
become of it all the year beside, this time should be kept a
time of peace ; we should seek it and oflTer it — seek it of God,
and offer it, each to other.

There hath not, these sixteen hundred years, this day
passed without a peace-offering. And the law of a peace-
offering is ; he that offers it must take his part of it, eat of it,
or it doth him no good. This day therefore the Church
never fails, but sets forth her peace-offering; — the Body
Whose hands were here shewed, and the side whence issued
Sanguis crucisy " the Blood that pacifieth all things in earth and Col i. 20.
Heaven," that we, in and by it, may this day renew the
covenant of our peace. Then can it not be but a great grief
to a Christian heart, to see many this day give Christ's peace
the hearing, and there is all; hear it, and then turn their
backs on it ; every man go his way, and forsake his peace ;
instead of seeking it shun it, and of pursuing, turn away
from it.

We " have not so learned Christ," St. Paul hath not so Eph. 4. 20.
taught us. His rule it is; "Is Christ our Passover offered for iCor.6.7,8.
us" as now He was ? Epulemur itague — that is his conclusion,
"Let us then keep a feast," a feast of sweet bread without any
sour leaven, that is, of peace without any malice.

So to do, and even then this day when we have the peace-
offering in our hands, then, then, to remember always, but
then specially to join with Christ in His wish ; to put into
our hearts, and the hearts of all that profess His Name, theirs
specially that are of all others most likely to effect it, that
Christ may have His wish, and there may be peace through
the Christian world ; that we may once all partake together
of one peace-offering, and " with one mouth and one mind [Rom. 15.
glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

i

A SERMON

PKBACBBO BBFOBB

THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE EIGHTH OF APBIL, A.D. BIDCX. B£INO EA8TEB-DAT.

Job xix. 23—27.

Oh that my words were now written ! Oh that they were written

even in a booh !
And graven with an iron pen in lead, or in stone Jbr ever !
For I am sure that my Redeemer livethy and He shall stand the
last on the earth {or^ and I shall rise again in the last day
from the earth.)
Or, And And thovffh after my shin worms destroy this body, I shall see
compassed God in my Jlesh*

^^in. Whom I myself shall see, and mine eyes shall behold, and none
other for me, though my reins are consumed within me. {Or,
and this hope is laid up in my bosom.)

[^Quis mihi trihuat ut scrihantur sermones meiP quis mihi det ut

exareniur in libra
Stylo ferreo, et plumbi lamina, vel celte sculpantur in silice P
Scio enim quod Redemptor mens vivit, et in novissimo die de terra

surrecturus sum :
Et rursum circumdabor pelle medf et in came mea videho Deum

meum.
Quern visurus sum ego ipse, et oculi mei conspecturi sunt, et nan alius:

reposita est h(sc spes mea in sinu meo. Latin Vulg.]

[OA that my words were now tvritten / Oh that they were printed in

a book !
That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock

for ever !
For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the

latter day upon the earth :
And though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh

shall I see God:
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not

another; though my reins be consumed within me. Engl. Trans.]

Of the Resurrection. 253

This day calleth us to say somewhat of Christ's resurrection. S B B IL

To find Christ's resurrection in the New Testament, is no —

mastery. Out of many places you have thence heard of it
heretofore many times, and many times may hereafter out of
many places more. If it be but for variety, it will do well
not to dwell still on the New, but otherwhiles to see if we
can find it in the Old. It will give us good satisfaction to see
" Jesus Christ to-day and yesterday the same ;" " yesterday" Heb. 13. 8.
to them, *' to-day" to us ; to read resurget in Job, ** He shall
rise," as we read resurrexit in John, " He is risen ;" to see
their creed and ours differ but in tense, " shall rise," and " is
risen," ** shall" and " is," but the Redeemer all one in both.
Much ado is made by your antiquaries, if an old stone be
digged up with any dim letters on' it In this text I find
mention of a stone to be graven, so that I shall present you
this day with an antiquity, an old stone digged up in the land
of Uz, as old as Job's time, and that as old as Moses; with
a fair inscription, the characters of it yet legible, to prove
the faith of this feast, so ancient that it began not with
the Christians, the patriarchs had it as many hundred years
before Christ as we are after. This text is a monument of
it. And it will be never the worse welcome to us that are
Gentiles, that it cometh from one that is a Gentile as Job was,
and not of Jacob's line. It is the stronger for that Moses and
Job, the Jew and Gentile believed it ; Moses put it in his
ordinary prayer, the nineteenth Psalm, as it were his Pater
noster, and Job here in his creed.

St. Hierome saith of Job : Nullum tarn aperte post Christum, rs.Hieron.
quam iste Mc ante Christum de Resurrectione loquitur Christi ad p^f*
etsud: * No man ever since Christ did so clearly speak of"^^]
Christ's resurrection and his own, as Job did here before
Christ,' "That his Redeemer liveth and shall rise again."
Which is as much to say as, " He is the Resurrection and the Joh. 11.26.
Life ;" — St. John could say no more. It is his hope, he is by
it " regenerate to a lively hope ;" — St. Peter could say no 1 Pet. 1. 3.
more. Enters into such particulars, " this flesh," and " these
^yes ;" — St Paul could do no more. There is not in all iCor.i5.53.
the Old, nay there is not in all the New, a more pregnant
direct place.

There is then in this monument of antiquity, a direct

264 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. prophecy ; or, if you will, a plain creed, of the substance of

Yi — this feast, of his Redeemer's rising, and of his hope to rise

by Him ; the one positive^ the other illative. There is a

pathetical poem set before it ; and there is a close or farewell

by way of epiphonema after it, no less pathetical.

The sum The two first verses we may well call the parascette^ or

^on." "preparation to the feast of passover," which serve to stir

^' up our regard, as to a mystery or matter of great moment,

worthy not only to be written or enrolled in a book, but to

be cut in stone ; a monument to be made of it, ad perpetuam

rei memoriam, " Oh that," &c,

II. Then followeth in the third, his Redeemer and His rising,
His passing over from death to life : " I know/' &c., and out
of it in the last, by way of inference, his own, Et quod ego, ^c.
set down with words so clear, and so full of caution, as in the
Epistle to the Corinthians it is not fuller expressed.

III. Upon these two, there be two acts here set down, 1. Scio,
and 2. Spero, He begins with scioy for the truth, and ends
with hac mihi spes for the comfort or use of this knowledge.
Graven, that it may be known ; known, that it may be our
hope. His it was, and ours it must be ; reposita with him,
reponenda with us, to be lodged and laid up in our bosoms,
against we be laid into the bosom of the earth. Indeed,
sculpsit in lapide is nothing without reponi in sinu, * Graving
in stone will do no good, without laying it up in the bosom.'

I. Job fearing it should seem, if he had but barely pro-

sc^teor^ pounded the point following, it would have been but slenderly

tion!"*^* regarded, doth enforce himself to set it down with some

Job's wish, solemnity, to make the deeper impression, which I call the

parasceue ; that we might not reckon of it as a light holyday,

but as a high feast. He would have the sdo of it stamped in

stone, as worthy everlasting remembrance, and the spero of it

carefully laid up, as worthy precious account. It is as much

iTim.1.16. as St Paul had said; "It is a faithful saying, and by all

*™* * ' means worthy to be received ;" for the scio^ *' faithful," for

the speroy " worthy all receiving ;" for the truth, to be graven

in marble, for the comfort to be lodged in the bosom.

For the first, thus he proceedeth. He was dying now, and
seeing he must die, one thing he had he would not have die
with him. It was that when he had lost all, he kept in his

Of the Resurrection. 255

bosom still ; when all comforters, and comforts forsook him,
and, as he saith, his physicians grew of no value, he found
comfort in. This he thought it was pity should perish, but
though he die, it live. It was certain words ; and because
they had been cordial to him — ^had been to him, and might
be to others — he desires they might remain to memory ; and
because writing serves to that end, they might be written.

Which his wish of writing consists of three degrees, is as it
were three wishes in one.

1. They be words ; and because words be but wind his i- That
awn proverb — that they might not blow away with the wind, "written."
he wisheth they were written. Quis mihi tribuaty ^ who will ^* '
help him to a clerk, to set them down in writing V

But then, he bethinks himself better. They were no 2. "Writ-
common ordinary matter, therefore not to be committed to book."
common ordinary writing. So, they might be rent or lost :
they be -more worth than so. Therefore now secondly, he
mends his wish; he would not have them to be barely
written, but registered in a book, enrolled upon record, as
public instruments, men's deeds, judicial proceeding ; or, as
the very word gives it. Acts of Parliament, or whatsoever is
most authentical.

And yet, upon farther advice, he calls back that too, by a 3.«Written
third wish. If they were upon record, records will last long, ^th^^pen
yet even them time will injure. No ink, no parchment, but ^f iron for
will decay with time. Now these he would have last for
ever : therefore he gives over his scribe, and instead of him
wisheth for a graver; no paper or parchment will serve, it
must be stone, and the hardest stone, the rock. For this
paper he must have " a pen of iron ;" — that he wisheth too.
But here is mention of lead ; what is to be done with that ? If
we believe the Hebrews, that best knew the fashion of their
country monuments, when it is graven, the graving may be
choked with soil, and the edges of the letters being rough and
uneven, may be worn in, or broken and so defaced ; to pro-
vide for that, the graving he would have filled with lead, that
so it might keep smooth and even from defacing, and full from
choking up. That it be nj?^, the last word, that is, last " for
ever," to the last ages and generations to come, never to be
worn, but to hold for ever. If it were the best in the world,

ever."

256 Of the Resurrectiaru

S E R M. more cannot be done or wished than this, and this he wisheth^
'- — and not coldly, but earnestly. '* Oh that it were, would God

it were I" Q^is mihi iribuat? Who will do so much? Who?

as if he were earnest begging of Gt>d and man to have it

done.
Why <^ in Now in the name of God, what may this be that all this
"** work is kept about? It is the work of this day. And why

would not a book serve for this? Why no remedy but it

must be in stone ? There want not reasons ; let me touch

1. Reaaon. some few. Moses and Job are holden to have lived at one '
Exod.34.]. time. Moses' law was graven in stone, we know. This of
iCor.15.14. Job here is Gospel, the substance, the chief article of it. No j

reason the Law in tables of stone, and the Gospel in sheets of ;!
paper. Good reason Job as zealous for the Gospel, as Moses
for the Law. If that wrought in stone, this no less ; as firm
and durable as it every way. And the same reason is for the
iron pen. As the stone for the Law, so the pen- for the
Jer. 17. 1. Prophets. If in the Prophet men's sins be ** written with a
pen of iron," meet the discharge should be written no less
deep, with as hard a pen as it ; that so the characters of one
may match the other at each point

2. Reason. This for Moses, now for our Redeemer. There it was
I Cor. 10.4. meet, ut de Petra, in petrd. Petra autem Christus, our
Ps. 19. 14. B^edegme^ js « a Rock ;" « O Lord my Rock and my

Redeemer," saith David, or *^ my Redeemer of the Rock,''
alluding to this of Job. Kindly it is it should be vrrought in
the Rock, that is, of the Redeemer Who is the Rock. And
iCor. 16. so the Resurrection, being a putting on incorruption, would
not be written in corruptible stu£P, but in that cometh nearest
to incorruption, and is least of all subject to corrupt and
decay. The words would be immortal, that treat of immor-
tality.

3. Reason. A third, in respect of those works, that are usually wrought

of stone, as gravestones, as arches triumphal. The Resurrection
Ho8.i3.i4. is mors mortis, saith Osee, *^ O death I will be thy death:"
54, 55. fo^ ^^ death of him that is the death of us all, here is a
gravestone allowed, and an epitaph graven on it. Here it is,
and so doth Nazianzen call this Scripture, death's epitaphs
Isa. 26. 8. Either — if as Esay saith, " death" by Christ^s rising be
1 Cor. 15. " swallowed up in victory," — a trophy of this victory would

Of the Resurrection. 257

remain^ and that, as all victories, in a pyramis of stone ; and
that, arch-wise on two pillars, 1. one for Christ's, 2. one for our
resurrection.

One more : That Job needeth this wish in regard of those 4. Reason,
that were to receive this doctrine. It will not well be written^
there is such unbelief and hardness of heart, yea even in the
Disciples, and so generally in our nature, as enough to do to
grave it in us; yet so necessary withal, as where it will not
be written, he wishes it graven. Written where it may, but
graven where it must. But written or graven, one of them
in us all.

This for Job's wish. Shall we now pass to the third verse, u.
and see what these words be, that no paper will serve, but je^t;^ "
stone ; nor pen, but iron ; nor ink, but lead ? Great expecta- J^^J^"
tion is raised with this so stately an entry. The words be and His
Job's, his scio and his speroy touching the two articles of this tion.
day, 1. his Redeemer, and His rising; 2. and the train of it,
his own rising, and his seeing God. They begin with scio
the pillar of this faith, and end with hcec mihi spesy the arch of
his hope, ever hope giving the assumption to faith's pro-
position.

Let us begin with the object of his knowledge. The first i. Quod
is news of a Redeemer. We owe this word to Job, he the tor. ^
first in the Bible that ever named Him so. Of the creation
we read in Moses, and God provided well for us that we
should no sooner hear of a Creator by Moses, but we should
of a Redeemer by Job. For though God by right of creation
were, as saith Melchisedek, '^ owner of heaven and earth," yet Gen.i4.i9.
"the creature being subject to vanity" shewed they were Rom. 8.20.
gone, aliened from God. But this is good news, that seeing
we were God's and not our own, He would not see that carried
away that was His own, but would be content one should
redeem it back.

But It is news to hear that Job is at his Redeemer, Job
with all his innocency, with his so just and holy life, as God job 1. 8, 9.
Himself bare witness unto it, as Satan himself could not job 2. 3, 4.
except against it ; yet he is not at scio quod Judex^ but sdo
quod Redemptor, doth deprecari Judicem^ and for all his virtues,
a Redeemer will do well though ; and he in the number of
those that are glad to say scio, to take notice of him.

8

i58 Of the Renurrection.

SKKM. From which his scio^ his notice taking, we take a true

-- estimate of Job's estate. For if he look after a Redeemeri

then is he either sold for a servant, or carried away for a

captive ; one of these. For these two only we read of;

redeemed from Egypt the house of bondage, or redeemed

from Babylon, the land of their captivity. St. Paul confesseth

Kom. 7. 1 1, both by himself ; "sold under sin,*' and "led away captive

v"u -' oa'* under the law of sin.*' Job confesseth as much. Peccavi, qvid

Job / . 20. ^ ^ ^ ^ •'

faciam f sinned he had, and by committing of sin was become
servus peccati. Sold by himself, and^i|ii(4e subject by sin;
and sold by God, and made subject to corruption, from t)oth
which he needed a Redeemer. Whether servant or captive,
one or both, it falleth out well that both states are redeemable,
neither past redemption. "Sinned," that he needs a Re-
deemer ; not so sinned, but a Eedeemer will serve. God is
Job 33. 24. willing, saith Elihu, to receive a reconciliation, to admit of a
J(.b 34. 31. Redeemer ; if we can get us one to lay down the price, there is
hope we may be restored, to see God again. A Redeemer
will do it.

Why then, scio quodi he knows of one. Good tidings to all

that need to know, there is one presently in being. For then,

[Lu.2.29.] nunc dimittis may Job say; he may "depart in peace," die

when he will, his Redeemer lives Who will never see that

perish He hath paid the price for, but since He came to

redeem that which was lost, will not suffer that to be lost

which He hath redeemed.

2. This of his Redeemer. Now, what he believes of Him.

Quodviiit Yixsi^ live he must, be a living, quick thing; not dead, or

[1 Pet. 1.18.] without life. Silver, gold, will not do it; our redemption is

personal, not real, to give somewhat and save himself. But

such a Redeemer as must answer body for body, and life for

life ; give Himself for Job, and those He redeems ; — so is the

nature of the word, so the condition of our redeeming. There

is His person.

Of what nature, out of the word Redeemer. Sure if a

Hisna- Redeemer, God. The Psalm deduceth at large: "Man

God! cannot redeem His brother, nor give an atonement unto God

P8.49. 7,8. for him. It cost more to redeem souls, so that he must let

that alone for ever." Then tells he us plainly, " It is God

shall redeem our souls from the hand of hell." Job saith the

Of the Resurrection, 259

same in effect: "In His Saints He found folly, and in His Job 4. is.
Angels pravitatemy somewhat awry ;" they both need a ^^^ ^^- ^^-
Redeemer, themselves. That they want themselves, they '"'"'■''''
cannot perform to others ; and if neither Saint nor Angel,
then no Redeemer but God.

On the other side, if a Redeemer, man He is to be of And man.
necessity. So is the flat law of redemption of persons. He
must be f rater ^ or propinquus^ "a brother or next of blood /^ Lev. 25. 25.
else not admitted to redeem a person. That He may be ^"*^ ^* ^^'
admitted then. He must be flesh of our flesh, and then
He may. The very word sheweth it which doth as properly
signify, to be "next of kin," as "to redeem." Upon the ^«a
point then, both He must be. Man cannot, God may not ;
but God and man both, may and can.

But what stand we straining the word Redeemer, or the Deum in
conditions of it, when we have both twain His natures in ^''"*^
formal terms, immediately in the verse following, videbo Deum
in came? There is God in plain terms, and His flesh is
human flesh, and that is man. I know, in came there may
be construed two ways, but I know both ways well, and both
ways it is taken by the Fathers : 1. "I, in my flesh, shall see
God;" or, 2. "I shall see" Deum in carne^ that is Deum
incarnatumy " God having taken flesh upon Him." This latter
way, I find, St. Augustine taketh it : videbo Deum in carne ; rvid. S.
quod ad id tempus pertinet cum Christi Deltas habitu carnis ch^Dei
induta est * I shall see God in my flesh : this pertains to the ]^' ^^- ^
time, when the Godhead of Christ was clothed with the habit
of flesh.' And well both, for one depends on the other ; our
seeing God in the flesh, upon God^s being seen in our flesh.
But DeiLs in carne^ are the two natures.

Now His ofiice is redeeming. How discharges He that? Quod re-
How brings He the work of our redemption to pass ? Many BSToffice.
were His works concurring to it. Job singles out, and makes
choice of one among them all, which is the chief of all, the
accomplishment of all, and where He shewed Himself a
complete Redeemer. For then a Redeemer right, when He
had brought His work to perfection, and that He did when
He rose again.

So I read, "rise again," and not "stand." It is well
known, it is theproper word for rising, and not standing.

s2

260 Of the Resurrection.

SERM. The Seventy so turn it, not arna-erai, "shall stand," but

'- — avaarqaeraiy "shall rise again." The Fathers so read it:

rs.Hieron. Nec dum natus erat Dominus, saith St. Hierome, et Athkta
ad Pam- JEcclesicB Redemptorem suum vidit a mortuis resurgenteniy *He
"**^ ■' was not yet born, and the Church's champion. Job, saw his
Redeemer rising from the dead.' Victurum me certd fiit
rs. Gre^r. credo^ Ubevd voce prqfiteor, quia Redemptor meus resurget, Qid
cap. 19. inter impiorum manus occubuit; ^ With assured faith I believe,
^ eat. Job. ^j^j ^j^jj £j,gg courage confess, that rise I shall, inasmuch as

my Redeemer shall rise. Who is to die by the hands of wicked
men,' saith Gregory upon these very words.

"Rise again" then shall our Redeemer from the dead.
There He was then, or He could not rise thence. How
came He there ? So that here is His death implied evidently,
that brought Him thither. Rise He cannot, except first He
fall. Fall therefore He must, and be laid up in the earth, before
He can rise from thence again. Specially, seeing we find Him
first alive in the fore-part of the verse, and then rise again in
the latter. For how can that be, unless death come between ?
Yea, the Fathers go farther, and from the words, came
medy set down the very state of His death. In my flesh,
that is, say they, such flesh as mine, rent and torn. As
to say true, between Christ's flesh when Pilate shewed Him
Joh. 19. 5. with Ecce HomOy and Job's, no great odds. Unum in toto
corpore vulnus, ' one resembled somewhat the other,' scarce any
skin left on Him no more than Job ; postquam pellem Meam
contriverunt, might Christ as truly say.

In this case he saw Him brought to the dust, and thence

he seeth Him rising again ; and so now it is Easter-day with

Job. For this text this day was fulfilled. Then He rose

again, and rising shewed Himself a perfect Redeemer. Then,

for till then, though the price were paid, nothing was seen to

Ps. 16. 10. come back. Now, " His soul was not left in hell," and so that

Acts 2. 31. came back ; nor " His flesh to see corruption," and so that

^ ^ ' * came back. And having thus with a mighty hand redeemed

and raised Himself, He is able to do as much for us. Quam

[S. Greg, in Se ostendity et in mefacturus est, saith Gregory ; Exemplo hk

cap. 19. monstravit, quod promisit in prtBmio ; 'what He shewed in

Beat. Job. Jjimgelf, He will perform in us ; and what we see now in this

example, then we shall feel in our own reward.'

Of the /Usvrrectian. 26 1

But thus have we in this verse comprised His person. His
two natures/ Godhead and manhood. His office. His death
and His resurrection, and His second coming ; for at His first
Job saw Him not as Simeon, but at His second shall. What
would we more ? with a little help, one might make up a
foil creed.

Very well then, on he goeth, and out of this Scio quod Job's own
Bedemptor he inferreth Scio quod ego, arguing from his Uon.
Bedeemer to himself. Eddem catena revincta est Christi
resurrectiOy et nostra^ * One chain they are linked with, His
and ours;' you cannot stir one end, but the other moveth
with it. The sinews of which reason are in this, that the
Redeemer doth but represent the person of the redeemed.
For a Redeemer is res propter aliuniy * all He doth is for
another ;' lives not, dies not, rises not, to or for Himself, but
to or for others; him or them. He undertakes for. His life,,
death, ^ resurrection, theirs, and the consequence so good ;
Scio'jpiod Hie, et quod ego. So there is no error in reading as
we do, in our Office of the Dead, *^ I shall rise again at
the last." Though it be the third person in the text, the first
is as^infallibly deduced by consequence, as if it were there
expressly set down ; as sure as He shall rise, so sure He shall
raise, for to that is He a Redeemer.

We see the coherence ; let us see the benefit, which The bene-
standeth of these four points. First, He shall see God ;
secondly, see Him in his "flesh," and with his "eyes;"
thirdly, in the same flesh, and with "the same eyes and
no other;" fourthly, and he shall see Him, sibiy "for his
own good and benefit ;" and all this, non obstante the case he
was in, which gave but small likelihood of it

The first and main benefit his Redeemer will raise him to, v^dAo
is to see God. That he lost when he became aliened; that i. "lahaii
he recovers, being redeemed. Here begins all misery, to be ^® ^°^"
cast out of His presence ; here all happiness, to be restored
to the light of His countenance. Visio Dei, all along the
Scriptures, is made our chief good ; and our felicity still set
forth, under that term. "In Thy presence is the fulness of Ps. i6.ii.
joy," saith the Psalm. Ostende nobis Patrem et suffidty and ^**^ ^ *
we will never desire more. A conjecture we may have of
the glory of this sight, from Moses. He saw Him^ and not

262 Of the Resurrection.

s £ R Bi. His face neither, and that but a glimpse, and but as He passed
by, yet got he so glorious a brightness in his countenance, he

22, 23. ' was fain to be veiled ; no eye could endure to behold him.
Mat,i7.2,4. And a like conjecture of the joy, by the transfiguration. They
did but look up at it, they desired never to be any where but
there, never to see any sight but that ; so were they ravished
with the beholding of it.
2. Vidnho *' See God," and so he may in spirit, as do the souls of the
"See Him righteous departed, it skills not for the flesh. Yes, see Him
flesh?* *' ^^ ^^ flesh." That as proper to this text, and this day,
[Jam. 4. 6.] which "offers more grace." This day Christ rose in the
flesh, and this text is, " we shall see Him in the flesh." It is
meet the flesh partake the redemption wrought in the flesh,
and He be seen of flesh. That was seen in the flesh. He will
do it for the flesh, it is now His nature, no less than the God-
head ; He will not forget it, we may be sure. It was hard
the Redeemer should be in the flesh, and the flesh never the
better for it.

1. Reason. For the soul is but half: though the better half, yet but

half, and the redeeming it is but a half redemption ; and if
but half, then imperfect. And our Redeemer is God, and
God's works are all perfect ; if He redeem. He doth it not by
halves. His redemption is a complete redemption, certainly.
But so it is not, except He redeem the whole man, soul, flesh
and all ; his soul from Hell, his flesh from the grave, both to
see God. His redemption is imperfect, till it extend so far.
Lu. 21. 28. Therefore, at His coming again, they are willed to " lift up
their heads, their redemption is at hand," their full redemp-
tion; then full, when both soul and body shall enjoy the
presence of God.

2. Reason. And what we say of God^s work, the same we say of the souFs

desire ; it is not full neither, without this. Every man, yea
2 Cor. 5. 4. the Saints, St. Paul by name, professeth all our desire, Nolumus
exspoliari sed supervestiri, " we would not be stripped of this
flesh, but be clothed with glory immortal, upon soul and
flesh both ;" which desire, being both natural, and having
with it the concurrence of God's Spirit, cannot finally be
disappointed.

3. Reason. I add farther that it is agreeable, not only to the perfection

of His work, but even to His justice, that Job's flesh should

•

Of the Resurrection, 263

be admitted, upon the Septuagint's reason in the forepart of

the verse, to avavrXovv ravra, that it hath gone through,

joined in the good, endured all the evil, as well as the soul.

"For God is not unrighteous, to deprive the labourer of his iicb. 6. lo.

hire/' but with Him it is a righteous thing to reward them

jointly that have jointly done service, and not sever them in

the reward that in the labour were not severed. But the flesh

hath done her part, either in good or evil ; her " members"

have been members either ways. In the good, the flesh hath Kom.fi. \x

kneeled, prayed, watched, fasted, wasted, and wearied itself, to

and for God. In evil it hath done, I need not tell you what ;

and that, to and for sin. Therefore, even justice would they

should share in the reward of the good ; and in the evil> take

like part of the punishment. This may serve for the flesh.

And sure, the very same may be said, and is no less strong 3. in cmm
for the third degree; as for the flesh and the eyes, so that the «inniy
same flesh should participate, and the same eyes, and no other °)J^^v^i,''
for them. No justice, one flesh should labour, and another the same

*' eyes.

reap that it never laboured for. What comfort can it be for
the poor body to abridge itself of much pleasure, and to
devour much tediousness and many afflictions ; and another
strange body shall step up, come between, and carry away
the reward? Nay, if these eyes of Job's have dropped many
a tear, it is reason the tears be wiped from them, not from Job 16. 20.
another pair of new-made eyes. If they have restrained
themselves, even by " covenant," from straying after ob- Job 3i. 1.
jeets of lust, it is meet they be rewarded with the view of a
better object.

But to say true, so should there be no resurrection indeed,
a rising up rather of a new, than a rising again of the old.
Job should not rise again, this Job, but another new Job in
his place and stead. Therefore is this point ever most stood on,
of the rest. St. Paul — not a corruptible or a mortal at large,
but hocy " this corruptible, this mortal." Yea, our Saviour iCor.is.aS.
Himself, solvite Templum hoc, "this very Temple;" and to Job. 2. 19.
shew, it was that very one indeed, it pleased Him to retain
the print, both of the nails and spear. And Job most plain
of all, using not only the word his, as it were pointing to it
with his finger, positive, but by adding " this and no other,"
exclusive too, to express it the more fully above exception.

264 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. But now these all, 1. seeing God, and 2. in the flesh, and

'■ — 3. in the same flesh, all are as good as nothing without tLe

mOn. fourth. Videbo mihiy a little word, but not to be little re-
^u?*""&c. garded. In the translation it is left out sometimes, never
in the treaty. To see Him for our good, else all the rest is
little worth. For all shall see Him, and in the flesh, and in
the same flesh, but all not sibi but many contra se ; not to
their good all, but many to their utter destruction.

This very word is it which draweth the diameter between

the resurrection of life and the resurrection of condemnation,

the right hand and the left, the sheep and the goats. They

Isa. 26. 19. that see Him 52^1, to them Esay, " Arise and sing." They

Rev. 1. 7. that contra se^ of them St. John, Vtdebunt et plangent^ " See they

17. 8 . gj^^jj ^j^j mourn." Those shall fly as eagles with all speed to

the body ; these other draw back and shrink into their graves,

creep into the clefts and holes to avoid the sight, cry to the

Lu. 28. 30. hills to fall upon them, and hide them from that sight One

1 Thes. 4. shall rapt in occursum^ " be caught up to meet ;" the other

Ps. 9. 17. shall converti retrorsuMy " be tumbled backward into hell, with

all the people that forget God.^' So that this word is all in

Job 38. 26. all ; which God after expounds, videbit faciem Meam injubih,

" with joy and jubilee shall he behold my face,'* as a Redeemer,

not as a Revenger; and as it foUoweth, with hope and not

with fear in his bosom.

And the very next point was it that revived him, and in
very deed the tenor of his speech, so often iterating the same
thing, and dwelling so upon it, sheweth as much. Once had
been enough, "I shall see God." He comes over it again
and again, as if he felt some special comfort even by speaking
it. Three several times he repeats this seeing, and three
other, his person — I, and I Myself, and I, and none other but I.
And as if he were not enough, he reckons up three parts,
his skin, flesh, and eyes ; as if being once in, he could not
tell how to get out. Blame him not : it seems, he felt some
ease of his pains, at least forgat them all the while he was but
talking. It did so ravish him ; having begun, he knew not
how to make an end.
in. Thus much for the object. Now to his scio, his knowledge

acts. Scio. first, and then his spero, his hope after. For his knowledge,
ledge."^'^" there be four things I would note out of four words. 1. His

Of the Resurrection. 265

certainty out of scio; 2. His propriety out of mens ; 3. His
patient waiting out of tandem; 4. and His valour or con-
stancy in non obstante.

Scioy his certainty ; that he did not imagine or conceive it i.
might be, but knew it for certain, even for a principle. Quis talntyr
«ci7, ' Who knows,' saith one. * Who knoweth, whether men ^'^•
die as beasts V Quis scit f Seio. * Who knows ? ' " I know,"
saith Job. Putasne, saith he, chapter 14. "Think you,
one that is dead may rise again?" Think? "I know
it," saith Job. It was res facta^ even this day to His
Disciples. It was res certa to him, many hundred years
before. It is much to the praise of his faith; "so much was Mat 8. lO.
not found, no not in Israel." And we shall not need to
trouble ourselves to know how he knew it Not by any
Scripture, he had it not from Moses, but the same way that
Moses had it ; he looked in the same mirror Abraham did, Joh. 8. 56.
when he saw the same Person, and the same day, and
rejoiced to see it.

Out of scio his certainty, and out of mens his peculiar, as it 2.
were. The Redeemer of the world would not serve him, nor priety?
St. Pauls maxime Jidelium, "of the faithful chiefly." This oi^^ ^^
the Ephesians would not content him, "That loved us andEph. 6. 2.
gave Himself for us :" none but the second of Galatians " That Gal. 2. 20.
loved me, and gave Himself for me.^^ "My Redeemer;'*
which they call faith's possessive.

In tandem^ the third word, his " patient enduring." For 3.
patience is not only shewed in suffering the cross, but in tient**"
waiting also for the promise. It will not be done by and by, ^^l^
this ; but tandem, " at the last" it will. " He shall rise again at Heb. 6. 15.
the last:" He shall, and we shall. Qui crediderit ne festinet. ?^*'?l^?'

, , J ^ jga^ 28. 16.

" He that believeth, let him not be in all haste." No : Si Hab. 2. 3.
moram fecerit, expecta Eum, " If He stay, stay His leisure.'*
Tarry His tandem.

And last, all these, Non obstante or tametsi, the resolute 4.

TT*

courage or valour of his faith ; that this he saith being in case rage.
he was, small likelihood of it in appearance, seeing and feeling ^'''^^•
that he saw and felt. There sat he falling away by peace-
meal, vivum cadaver. For him then to talk of scio and meus
thus, having no better signs and arguments than he had ; in
the sense of his anger, to believe his favour; brought to the

266 Oftlie Resurrection.

S E R M. day of death, to promise himself so glorious an estate ; — this

'■ — is Abraham's faith, contra spem in spe credere, faith without,

nay faith against feeling. His state in sense of misery, want
of comfort, his friends dismaying him, for all that he keeps to
his scio, and to his meus still. All else, even all he hath, his
righteousness too, they may take from him ; salutem non
auferenty * his Redeemer they should never get ;' non obstante,
he would hold him fast.
2. Act, This for his scio, and now to his spero^ which word leadeth

l^^ope. ^^ ^o ^^ ^^^^ ^® ^^^9 *"^ ^^ *^^ ^^ make of this knowledge.
Not, know to know ; or to be known, to know ; but know, to
lodge in our bosoms true hope. It is the general use of all
Rom. 16.4. our knowledge of the Scriptures, *' Whatsoever is written for
our learning, that we by patience and comfort in the Scrip-
tures may have hope." Generally of all, but above all of
these^ of Christ our Redeemer. He is our hope, and His
rising, that is caput boncR speiy * our cape of good hope,' the
most hopeful of all other.
Spes re- The usc of hopc is to expel fear. No fear, to the fear of
"^Hope death, what shall become of us after our short time here,
laid up." which makes us never quiet, but in " the valley of Achor*' all
Hos. 2. 16. our life long : the Resurrection opens us " a gate of hope."
Mark 16.6. Therefore this day, Noll timerey say the Angels ; Nolite timere,
Lu. 24. 38. saith Christ. That our proper salutation of the day. This,
Ps. 16. 9. a day of hope. And this use made David of it : " My flesh
shall rest in hope," though we were not in Job's case, but in
all his royalty. For even Kings, in all their royalty, some-
times have before them the hand-writing on the wall ; Nume-
Dan. 6. 5, ravit, "He hath numbered thy days,'' and even then they
rest on this hope, and read this inscription not unwillingly.
[1 Pet. 1.3.] The same use do the Apostles: "Who hath regenerated us,"
in spe, " to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Christ" — it is
St. Peter. " Rest in hope," saith David ; " a lively hope^^ —
Peter ; rest in hope of rising and living again.

And the term, that Job here gives hope, is worth a note;
nv!?D he calls it " the kidneys" of the soul. It made the translator
miss, that knew not this idiom. For as in that part of the
body is bred, and from thence doth issue, that same generativus
humor, whereby we propagate our kind, and live here in a
sort after we be dead; in like manner by this hope, saith Job,

Of the Resurrection, 267

and so saith St. Peter, "we are begotten anew;" '*we areiPet. 1.8.
sown," saith St Paul, and of that seed, rise again "in power, ^J^I; ^^•
honour, and immortaUty."

And this is h(Bc spes^ " this hope," For hope at large heareth
evil, hath no good name. Many our hopes prove vigilantis
somniay ^ waking dreams/ we cannot lay them up : and if we
would, they are not worth the laying up, no more than our
dreams be. That the heathen man made it his happiness, to
say ; vale spesy ^ farewell all hoping.' This is true, where the
rest of our hope is vanishing as man, whose breath is in his
nostrils ; and when that goeth, " all his thoughts perish." Ps. ug. 4.
But this hope is of another nature ; non confundet, " it will not Rom. 6. 6.
make you ashamed." There is a reality in it, " an anchor- Heb. 6. 19.
hold ;" ** it is built on the rock," it will endure as the rock on Lu. c. 48.
which it is built, and on which it is graven here. There will
come an end, and his hope will not be cut off, of all other;
you may make a depositum of it, lay it up, repone iUaniy et
repone te in Hid', you may rest on it, it is, spes viva, "a living 1 Pet. 1. 3.
hope" in Him That liveth, and shall restore us all to life.

Now, the place is much, where we lay it ; every thing is Reposita
best kept in his proper place. Job saith, he bestowed it in !ri*"my
his bosom, and would have us to do the like. Of that place ^osom."
he made choice, of none without us, behind us. That we
might ever carry it about us, ever have it before us and in
our sight, ever at hand ; not to seek, but ready and easy to
be had, when we call for it ; and these, for the continual use
we are to have of it, in all the dismays and discomforts of
our life. Beside, there it will be safely, that being the surest
place, as being wtthin the fold of our arms where our strength
lieth, anH whence hardest to take it from us. And there it
will be best cherished in the warmth, and vital heat of the
bosom. There the nurse carrieth her child, and the wife is
called " the wife of the bosom." And what is dearer to us than Deu. 13. 6.
these two? But above all, there it will be next the heart,
for the bosom is but the coffer of the heart, and there Job
would have it. As well for that that place is the best place,
and so best for the best hope, as that there is in this hope a
special cordial virtue against the fainting of the heart; as
indeed it is cor cordis, * the very heart of the heart,' and
whereby the heart itself is more heartened. Job found it so.

268 Of the Resurrection.

s £ R M. So (lid St. Paul, when he grew out of heart. Put his hand in
■ — his bosom, took out this hope, looks upon it^ presently saith,

2Cw,4.i6. propter quod non deficimus. And when Timothy was in the
like deliquium, he applies to him — What man! Memento,

2Tiin.2.s. "Remember, Christ is risen,*' and we shall rise and see God;
an amends for ail we can suffer — as a special receipt against
all cardiack passions.

But, in choosing this place, Job's mind was specially to
except to the brain, where commonly men lodge it, and are
mistaken ; it is not the right place, Scio there if you will,
in the braiu, it is the place of memory; but spero in the
heart, the place of affection, namely fear, and till the heart be
the less fearful, and the more cheerful for it, it is not where
it should be, not laid in the right place. Nay, not scientia
cerebri^ knowledge is not the best neither, not in the brain.
Scientia sinus, and corde creditur : best, when it hath his rest
there, when knowledge in the heart, and hope in the reins,
and He that searcheth heart and reins may there find them.
Err not then in laying it up in the head, or any where, but
whither Job carried it, and where he laid it, " in the bosom."
To end ; because we be speaking of a hope to be laid up in
our bosom, it falleth out very fitly, that even at this time,
festum spei, the Church offereth us a notable pledge, and
earnest of this hope there to bestow ; even the holy Eucharist,

Joh. 6. 24. the flesh wherein our Redeemer was seen and suffered, and

Eph.4. 30. paid the price of our redemption; and together with it "the holy
Spirit, whereby we are sealed to the great day of our redemp-
tion." To the laying up of which earnest of our hope, and
interest in all these, we are invited at this time, even literally
to lodge and lay it up in our bosom. We shall be the nearer

(.Ps. 34. 8.] our scio, if " we taste and see by it, how gracious the Lord is ;"
the nearer our spero, if an earnest or pledge of it be laid up
within us; the nearer our redemption, if we have within us
the price of it ; and the nearer our resurrection — they be His

Joh. 6. 54. own words, " He that eateth My flesh and drinketh, &c. hath
eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day." So
dwell we in Him, and He in us; we in Him by our flesh in
Him, and He in us by His flesh in us. Thereby drawing life
from Him the second, as we do death from the first Adam.
But this hope hath this property, saith St. John, it will

Of the Resurrection, 269

mundify the place where it lieth, ** Every one that hath this iJohnS.a.

hope cleanseth himself;" which place by virtue of it we shall

80 cleanse^ ut videatur in came nostrd Deusy ^^ that the life of [2 Cor. 4

Jesus may be manifest in our flesh;" and all men see the

virtue of His resurrection to have His work in us, by our

rising out of the old dusty conversation to newness of life.

His resurrection and the power of it being exemplarily seen

in our flesh, our end shall be to " see Him in our flesh," and

that nobisy not contra nos^ for our eternal joy and comfort.

And then have we the feast in kind, and as much fruit of it,

as either Patriarch or Apostle can wish us. Which that we

may, pray we to Him, &c.

A SERMON

PRKACHKD BEFORE THE

KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE TWENTY-FOCBTH OF MARCH, A.D. MDCZI. BEING EASTER-DAT, AND
BEING ALSO THE DAY OF THE BEGINNING OF HIS MAJESTT's MOST
r.RAClOUS REIGN.

Psalm cxviii. 22.

The Stone Which the builders refused^ the same Stone is become

(or made) the Head of the comer.

[^Lapideniy Quern reprohaverunt isdificantes, Hie /actus est in Caput

anguli. Latin Vulg.]

[The Stone Which the builders refused is become the Head-stone

of the comer, Engl. Trans.]

s E R M. " The Stone which the builders refused,'^ saith the Prophet

'—^ David. " This is the Stone which ye builders refused," saith

Acts 4. 11. the Apostle Peter. And saith it of Christ our Saviour, Hie
est Lapis^ " He is the Stone." And saith it to Caiaphas and
the rest that went for builders. We know then who this
Stone is, and who these builders be, to begin with.

And in the very same place, the same Apostle telleth
us farther what is meant by " refused," and what by ^^ made
Acts 4. 10. head of the corner.^' Quern vos, " whom ye" denied and
" crucified ;" — that was His refusing. And then. Quern Deus,
" whom God" hath raised again from the dead ; — that was
His making Caput anguli, " Refused" when ? Three days
ago. " Made Head," when ? This very day, for Hie est
Ps.118.24. c/iV5 foUoweth straight within a verse, "This is the day."
Which day ? there is not one of the Fathers that I have read,
but interpret it of Easter-day.

Of ilie Resurrection, 271

And so we have brought the text, and the time together.
Ne know who is " the Stone ;" Christ. Who " the builders ;"
Daiaphas and those with him. When "refused?" In His
Passion. When *' made head?" at His Resurrection, that
s this day, which day is therefore at the twenty-seventh
rerse said to be, constitutus dies solennis, " made a solemn
east-day," in condensis, on which the Church to stand " thick
md full," usque ad cornua altaris, "even up to the very
corners of the altar."

This I take it is a good warrant for our Church, to make
:his Psalm a select choice Psalm for this day, as peculiar and
pertinent to the feast itself. And a good waiTant for us so
to apply it. It is the Holy Ghost^s own application by the
mouth of St. Peter, we may boldly make it ours.

But though this be the chief sense, yet it is not the only. 2.
The chief it is, for "the spirit of prophecy" is in it, which Rev. 19. 10.
" is the testimony of Jesus." Yet not the only, for according
to the letter we cannot deny, but that originally it was meant
of David. He was a stone too, and in his time refused, yet
after raised by God to the highest place, even to be King
over his people. The Chaldee Paraphrast, the oldest we
have, is enough for this ; thus he turneth the verse, vho &c.
" The Child Whom the chiefest men oppugned. He of all the
sons of Ishai, was made Ruler of Israel." A second sense
then it hath, of David.

And by analogy it will bear a third, and it will sort with 3.
ours, or with any Prince, in like manner banded against, and
sought to be put by as he ; and yet after brought by God to
the same place that David was. To any such it will well
agree, and be truly 'verified of him, and rightly applied to
him. And I confess, I chose it the rather for this third.
Because, as this year falleth out, upon one day, and Hie est
dies, " this is the day," we have in one a memorial of two
benefits ; 1. of our Saviour's exalting, by His Resurrection,
2. and of our Sovereign's exalting, and making head of this
kingdom. Both lighting together, we were, as we thought, so
to remember the one, that we left not the other out And
this text will serve for both. Both may in one be set before
us, and so we rejoice and render thanks to God for both ; for
the Lord Christ, and for the Lord's christ under one.

272 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. Three senses then there are in the text, and to do it right,
we to touch them all three. 1. Christ in prophecy ; 2. David
in history ; 3. Our own in analogy. But we will give Christ
the precedence. Both for His person — He ** is David's Lord,"

CoL 1. la. and the Head of all Head-stones; it is meet He have prima-
tum in omnibus, " He in all things have the pre-eminence'—
and, for that the truth of the text never was so verified in
any as in Him. We may truly say, none ever so low cast
down, none ever so high lift up again as He. Others refused,
but none like Him ; and their heads exalted, but nothing in
comparison of His. 1. First then of Christ^s; 2. after, of
David's briefly ; 3, and last, of our own.
I. To apply it to Christ. " The stone'' is the ground of all
Two things befal it, two things as contrary as may be.
I. "Refused," cast away; 2. then, called for again, and
" made Head of the building," So two parts there are, to the
eye. 1. The refusing, 2. and the raising, which are His two
estates. His humiliation, and His exaltation.

1. In either of these ye may observe two degrees. A quibus,
and quousque; ^ by whom,' and * how far.' By whom ** refused T
We weigh the word tedificantes ; not by men unskilful, but
by workmen, '^ builders" professed ; it is so much the more.

2. How far? We weigh the word reprobaverunt, usqve ad
reprobari, ^even to a reprobation.' It is not improbaverunt,
< disliked,' as not fit for some eminent place, but reprobaverunt,
* utterly reprobate' for any place at all.

II. Again, exalted by whom? The next words are, a Domino,
1. '' by God," as good a Builder, nay better than the best of

them ; which makes amends for the former.
2. And how far? Placed by Hira, not in any part of the
building, but in the part most in the eye, ** the corner," and in
the highest place of it " the very Head."

So rejected, and that by the builders, and to the lowest
estate; and from the lowest estate exalted in Caput anguli,
to the chiefest place of all, and that by God Himself. This
for Christ.
8. And David is a stone, and so is ours, and so is every good
Gen.49.24. prince, lapis Israel, as Jacob in his testament calleth them.
And builders there be, such as by office should, but many
times do not their office, no more than Caiaphas here. Repro-

Of the Resurrection. 273

baveiiint is, when "they devise to put Him by, whom God Ps. 62. 4.
would exalt ;" and f actus Caputs when God for all that doth
them right, and brings them to their place, the Throne Royal.
And this was the day when God so brought David, as
appeareth by the twenty-fourth verse. And hie est dies, "this
is the day" when He brought His Majesty to be head of this
kingdom. Of these in their order.

"The Stone which the builders refused, &c." The estate i.
of mankind, as they are in society, either of Church or king-
dom, is in divers terms set forth to us in Scripture ; sometimes
of a flock, sometimes of husbandry, otherwhile of a building. [SeeP8.74.
Ye are "His flock" — divers times in the Psalms. "You are 78^62.^79.
God's husbandry, you are God's building" — both in one verse. J^- ^^- J-
Now, the style of this text runs in terms of this last, of Build- 4i.]
ing or Architecture, For here are builders, and here is stone, 1 Cor 3. 9.
and a coin or corner, and a top or turret over it.

Of this spiritual building we all are stones, and which is
strange, we all are builders too. To be built, and to build,
both stones, in regard of them whom God hath set over us,
who are to frame us, and we so to sufler them. Builders, in
regard of ourselves first : then, such as are committed to us,
by bond either of duty or charity, every one being, as
St. Chrysostom saith well, de subditd sibi plebe quasi domum
Deo siruere, *of those under his charge, to make God an
house.' As " stones ;" it is said to us by St Peter, Super-
tedificaminiy " Be ye built up," or framed. As " builders ;" it 1 Pet. 2. 5.
is said to us first by St. Jude, " Build yourselves in your most Jude 20.
holy faith.^' Then by St. Paul, " Edify ye," or build ye " one 1 ihes. 6.
another." " Be built,^^ by obedience and conformity : " Build ^^'
yourselves" by increase in virtue and good works. " Build
one another" by good example, and wholesome exhortation.
The short is, this is to be our study, all : if we be but our-
selves, every one in himself and of himself to build God an
oratory. If we have an household, of them to build Him a
chapel. If a larger circuit, then a Church. If a country or
kingdom, then a Basilica, or Metropolitan Church, which is
properly the prince's building.

This in the text, the builders here were in hand with, as a
Basilica ; for it was the frame of the Jews' government, but is
applied to all states in general. For Jewry was the scene or

T

274 Of the Resurrection.

s £ R M. stage whereon the errors or virtues of all governments were

VT

1— represented to all posterity.

Four words there be in the text : 1. jEdificantes, ** builders."
2. Lapisy " Stone.'' 8. Angulusy "a Comer," and 4. Caputs "the
Head." From the first word, yEdificanteSy this we have ; that
states would not be as tents, set up, and taken down, and
removable. They would be buildings, to stand steady and
fixed. Nothing so opposed unto a state, as not to stand.

2. From the second, Z^ipis ; that this building would be,
not of clay and wood, or, as we call them, paper walls ; bnt
stone-work, as strong, as defensible, as little subject to con-
cussion, or combustion, as might be.

3. From the two parts specified, first, Anguli; this stone-
work is not a wall forthright, to part in sunder, or to keep
out, but it consists of divers sides : those sides meet in one
angle where, if they meet and knit well, all the better will the
building be.

4. Caput And they will knit the better, if they have a
good " head." For where they meet, no place so much in
danger of weather going in, and making the sides fly ofl^, if it
want a covering. A head it would have to cover it ; it is a
special defence, and besides, it is a sovereign beauty to the
whole building.

And that head would not be of plaister to crumble away,

or of wood, to warp or rot with the weather ; or of lead, to

bow or bend, and to crack ; but of stone, and the principalest

stone that could be. The chief part it is, the head ; the chief

care and consultation would be, what stone meet for that

place, for indeed it is all in all.

Thefiret That is the consultation here. Here is Christ, what say

Christ. you to Him ? He is " a Stone." 2. " A building Stone.^'

3. "A corner Stone." 4. "A head Stone." «A Stone:"

Act8 4. II. so the Prophets term Him. And so the Apostles, Peter

[and] Paul. 1, In His Birth: Daniel's "Stone, cut forth

Dan. 2. 34. without hands." 2. In His Passion : Zachary^s Stone, graven

Zech. 3. 9. and cut full of eyes, all over. 3. In His Resurrection : Esay's

Isa. 28. 16. Stone, laid in Sion, Qui crediderit non confundetur^ ** he that

believeth in Him then, shall not be confounded," saith St

1 Pet. 2. 6. Peter, Hie est Lapis. He is the Stone of our faith, saith

1 Cor. 10. 4. St. Peter, Lapis erat Christus, And Petra erat Christus^

Of the Resurrection. 275

aith St, Paul. He is "the Stone" of our Sacraments; the

^ater of our baptism, and of our spiritual drink, both issue

i-om Him. " A Stone :'' first, for His nature, of the earth

8 stones are, out of Abraham's quarry, saith Esay, to shew Isa. 61. i.

lis humanity. And out oi Kordiyrepa Tfj<; yrj(;, " the very lowest

>art of the earth," saith the Apostle, to shew His humility. Eph. 4. 9.

indeed, nothing so subject to contempt, to be trodden on, to

>e spumed aside, as it. And such was His condition, Vermisy Ps. 22. 6.

\on homo, and Lapis, non homo, ** A Worm or a Stone, and

lo man."

A stone will endure much sorrow, nothing more. And 2.
fiho did ever suffer like Him ? or, in His suffering, who more
patient, or still, or stone-like, than He?

But the chief virtue of a stone is, that it is firm and sure ; 3.
and so is He. Ye may trust Him, ye may build on Him,
He will not fail you. What ye lay on Him is sure. David
may have sure footing and rest " his feet," Moses " his hands," Ps. 40. 2.
Jacob "his head," on this " Stone." This is it He hath His ^^- i^- J?*

, , XT 1 "XT* 1 • Gen. 28. 11.

denommation from. He that trusts m Him, nothmg, "not Mat.i6.i8.
the gates of hell, shall prevail against him." Trustiness, with
non confundetur, the chief virtue of a stone, of Christ and of
those that are head-stones by, and under. Him.

But there are stones that lie scattered, that will neither
head well nor bed well, as they say, not meet to build withal ;
meet for nothing but to hurl, and to do hurt with. But
Christ is a Stone to do good with, to build with. Lapis ad
(Bdificationem. And He loveth not to scatter, or be by Him-
self; ^' His delight is to be with the sons of men," and to grow Prov.s.si.
with them into one frame of building.

" A Corner Stone." Of all the places in the building, that 3.
one special place liketh Him, where the sides meet — there He
is. To join together, ^^ to make two one," He loveth it above Eph. 2. 14.
all ; stretching Himself to both walls, that both may rest on
Him.

And lastly, Lapis primarius, '* a Headstone." For there He 4.
should be, there is His right place, and it will never be well
with the building, till He be in that place, till Christ be
*AKpoy<0Vi,alo^y Caput in omni procuratione, " the highest and
chiefest end of all." This He is, and in the end this He will
be ; if not by men, yet by God.

T 2

27G Of the ResurreetUm.

S£ K M. But now we have to do with men^ and we are to put it to

'■ — voices, their voices with whom He lived, what they think of

Christ for Caput angulL It is returned, Quern reprchavenad;

Lu. 19. K lie is '' refused." Will ye hear it fix)m themselves ? Nolwam
Ilunc regnare^ *' We will not have Him King.** Not in that
place, no head in any wise.
1- But a quibus, who were these ? " These were foolisi

Jer. 6. 4. people," that knew not the virtue or value of a stone ; no
heed to be taken what they cry. We will get us wiA

Jer. 6. 6. Jeremy to men of skill, that know what stone is for every
place, professed builders by their trade. But these also were

Joh. 7. 4a no better conceited of Him than the other ; for " do any of
the rulers make any account of Him ?" as who say. None of
them neither, the very builders refuse Him too.
2. Well, we will make the best of it. It may be, not for the
head, but there be more places than that ; if not allow Him
there, yet He may be in some else. Improbaverunt it may be,
but not reprobaverunt ; ^ disallowed,' but not ^ cast aside quite.'
We ask then, how far ? Will ye put Him up the second time,
and to see the quousque in kind, will ye put up Barabbas with

Joh. 18. 40. Him ? Non Hunc, sed Barabbam, So it went, that was their
verdict. Now by this time it is reprobaverunt, as flat as may
be, a refuse indeed, and that with a foul indignity.

But these were but the vulgar again. What say the
builders to this ? He of them that took himself for a very
Vitruvius, such a workman as he said all the rest " understood
nothing at all,'' the master-builder, Caiaphas, he was flat,

Joh. 11. expedity "it was expedient He should die," be cast aside into
the heap of rubbish, be put out of the building clean. This
is His doom.

1. Now, lay these together. To be refused is not so much;
it may be, it is of such as are ignorant. But to be ** refused"
of " builders," and those the chief, is much, for they are pre-
sumed to be skilful. Again, to be disliked for the chief place,

2. not so much ; if not for that, he may be for another. But to
be utterly reprobate, that is, not refused for the head, nor
refused for the comer, but refused simply for any room at all;
not in the top, nay not in the bottom ; not in the corner, nay
not in any rank of the building ; that is as much as may be.
And this was Christ's lot.

Of the Resurrection. 277

Yet this was all but in words, nothing was clone to Him.
But there is a reprobation in deed, and that is jet far worse.
And to that they proceed, even to actual matters, to real
reprobation. Before they cast Him aside, this poor Stone,
they hacked and hewed it, and mangled it piteously ; they
shewed their malice even in that too. Ccelaverunt sculpturam Zech. 3. 9.
JEjus, saith the Prophet, their tools walked on Him, "they
graved Him," and cut Him with a witness, and made Him
full of eyes on every side. What skilled that? What dis-
grace, or what sorrow is done to a stone ? The stone feels it
not. The cry of non Huncy or the edge of the graving tool,
affect it nothing. True : but He was Lapis vivus^ " a living i Pet 2. 6.
Stone," as Peter calleth Him, a Stone that hath life, life and
sense, and felt all ; felt His graving, the edge and point both ;
felt His despising, the scorn and malice both ; of the twain,
this the more, but both He felt. When " they made furrows Ps. 129. 3.
on His back'' with the scourges ; when *' they platted the Mat.27.29.
crown of thorns, and made it sit close to His head ;" when
" they digged His hands and feet," He felt all. He endured
it patiently, tanquam lapis; but He felt it sensibly, tanquam Fb, 22. 16.
vivus. Had quick sense of His pain in graving, had lively
apprehension of His contempt in refusing.

And these very two words in the text, lapidem and repro^
baverunt, set out unto us both parts of His Passion fully. As
if He had been stone, so laid they on Him ; as if He had
been a reprobate, so poured they all disgrace upon Him. And
even as a stone He was in His Passion, For as the stones
give against the weather, so was there not to be seen upon
Him a bloody sweat? Did He not give, as it were, of Him- Lu. 22. 44.
self, against the tempest came ? And when it came, was it
not so strange, even that which this living Stone suffered, as
the dead stones that had no life, as if they had had life and
compassion of His case, rent in sunder with it? ia/?2We/w Mat.27.5i.
then is true.

And for reprobaverunt^ that is as true. For how could they
have entreated a reprobate worse than they entreated Him?
in His thirst, in His prayer, in the very pangs of death, what Joh. 19.29.
words of scorn and spiteful opprobry ! What deeds of malice
and wretched indignity ! Of Himself it is said, and by way
of exaggeration, " He humbled Himself to death, the death of ruii. 2. 8.

278 Cf the Resurrection.

s E R M. the cross." Of them it may be no less, reprobaverunt ad
—ll — mortem^ mortem crueis, * they rejected Him to death, the death
of reprobates ; the death wheremito a corse is annexed, the
death of the cross.* And never gave Him over, till thej
Mat27.60. brought Him, Lapis ad lapidem, into a grave of stone, and
rolled a stone upon Him, and there left Him. And thus much
for Lapis Quem reprobaverunt,
IL It is the feast of the Passover, we now pass over to His
other estate. His exaltation ad Caput angulL Were it not
strange the stone should be rolled away, and this stone shonld
be digged up again, and set up in the aiitesy the place most
conspicuous, that is, made a comer-stone; and that in the
very top, the highest part of all, that is, made a Head-stone?
Were not this a strange pass-over from death to life, from
lo\^est reprobation to highest approbation, from basest re-
proach to greatest glory ?

But seeing builders, we see, may be deceived, and that in

capitey as we find here, and that, though Caiaphas be one of

them, and a stone may have wrong; would it not be well, we

called to scrutiny again ? Is there any builder yet left before

whom we may bring the matter? Yes, there is. "Every

lieb. 3. 4. house is built of some man," saith the Apostle, " but He That

Job 38. 6. jg ^Yie Builder of all, is God." He That set up this great

vaulted work of Heaven over our heads, That " laid the comer-

Ps. 104.3. stone" of the earth, He is a Builder. But He that "laid His

Job 26. 7. chamber-beams in the waters," et appendit terram super nihilum,

" hangs this great mass, no man knows upon what ;" He That

beginneth at the top, and builds downwards. Heaven first,

and then earth, as He did; He passeth all ours. He is a skil- '

ful Builder indeed. Is He of the same mind ? Offer Christ

to His probation. He will reprobare reprobanteSy * condemn

them, that so refused Him,' and all will turn quite contrary.

1 Pet 2. 4. St. Peter saith it ; He was aTroBeBoKifMaa-fjuivo^y ^^ reprobate" with

men, but €/c\€/cto9, " chosen" of God, i^ovhevtofievo^, " nothing

worth" with them, but evTCfios " precious" with Him. Meet to

be in the building; nay, no building meet to be without

Him. And in the building, if any part more object to the

sight than other, there. And in that, if any place higher

than another, there. In CBdificiOy angulo cedi/iciiy capite

anguli; 'in the building, the corner of the building, the head

I

Of the Resurrection. 279

of the comer; that is, in the highest place, of the chiefest
part of all. This He thought Him, and as He thought Him,
so He made Him ; and made Him so this day, the day of His
resurrection. Whom they cast down, God lift up from the
grave ; Whom they vilified, He glorified ; glorified, and made
Him Caput anguli, *^ the Head of the corner.'^

How '* of the corner ?" The corner is the place where two AnguU,
walls meet, and there be many twos in this building. The
two walls of nations, Jews and Gentiles ; the two of condi-
tions, bond and free ; the two of sex, male and female ; the
great two which this day we celebrate, of the quick and the
dead ; above all, the greatest two of all, Heaven and earth.

The two first meet in Him : there was a partition, but He
down with it, et fecit utraque unum. So that there is neither Eph. 2. 14.
** Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor ^^ ^' ^^'
female, but all one in Christ Jesus ;" yea, the quick and the
dead both live to Him. And all these, so many combina-
tions, as in the centre, meet in Him ; and He, in the midst of
all, draws all and knits ail in one holy faith, and blessed hope
of His coming; one mutual unfeigned love towards each
other. Ex te angulus^ well said Zachary. Zech. lo. 4.

And as unity is in the angle, so order is under the Head. Caput,
As all one in Him, so He is Head of all. Head of the Jews, —
Jesus in their tongue ; Head of the Gentiles, — Christ in their
tongue. " Head of the Church ;" " Head of all principality and Coi. i. is.
power." Therefore this day, "Christ That died rose again, that ^^- ^-J^-
He might be Lord both of quick and dead." And of the great
angle of all, consisting of Heaven and earth ; for all power Mat28. is.
was given Him in Heaven and earth, and He made Head of
both.

Now then, will ye lay these together? There can come i.
to a stone no greater dignity, than there to be in the head. ^'
To any stone ; but it is much increased by that circumstance,
that it is not only lapis barely, but Lapis Quern reprobaverunty
that now is there in the head ; not any stone, but a Stone so
refused as we heard, for such a Stone there to be ; from that
terminus a quo, to come to this terminus ad quern ; from so
base an estate, there to be, that is a great increase to it.

And thirdly, by such a Person, a Builder so matchless, 8.
there to be, that is yet a degree higher; and this triplicity

280 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. exalted much His exaltation. That by God, and not God's
suffering but His doing, and ihtX factum mirabUe, "His won-

derful doing/' it came to pass ; as indeed, wonderful it is to
see, that which all the world now seeth, Christ, That for the
present was so strangely dejected, since to be so exceed-
Phil. 2. 9, ingly glorified. So many knees to bow to Him, so many
'^^' tongues to confess Him, His Name to be above all names,
Heaven and earth to be full of the majesty of His glory.

Now, from these words, Caputs anguli^ that which we
learn morally is, to make much of the two virtues commended
to us in these two words; 1. virtus anguli; 2. and angxdi
sub Capite,

First, the virtue of two walls united in one angle, that is,
unity. For Christ will not be Caput macerice, * of a party-walV
but of an angle joined. He is not of their spirit that, so they
may be head, care not though it be never so broken a wall.

Secondly, not every unity, but unitas ordinata, that hath, or
is under a head. For it is not cujusvis anguliy but angu&
cui Caput ; * not of every angle, but of an angle the unity
whereof is neither in the tail, nor in the sides, but in the
head ;' that is, commended to us, as unity against division,
so order against confusion. They that can be content to
corner well, but would be acephaliy ^ head-less,' have no head,
please Him not. No more do they that would join, but
would he poly-cephaliy have a consistory of heads, ^many heads,'
as many as the beast of Babylon. For sure it is, an angle
can have no more heads but one. To love an angle well,
but an angle that hath an head, and but one head. To love
a head well, but a head, not of a single wall, but of an angle.
Both these, and both to be regarded. They be Zachary's
Zech. 11.7. two staves, "bands," and "beauty," which uphold all govern-
ment ; break one, and the other will not long be unbroken.
The head without unity, unity without the head; either
without other will not long hold.

Both then, but especially unity, for that cometh in here,
not necessarily as doth the head, but extraordinarily'. And
therefore extraordinary regard to be had of it. For I was
thinking why he should here in this second part say, that
"He was made Head of the corner?" Why should it not
suffice to have said,/ac/w5 est Caputs and no more? Or if

Of the Resurrection. 281

lore, Jactus est Caput csdificii ? To have said, * He was made

le Head,' at least-wise * made the Head of the whole building V

V^hy must anguU be added ? What needed any mention of

tie comer? No occasion was given, no mention was made

f it in His refusing ; the word " Head" would have served

iilly, to have set His exaltation forth. Some matter there

vas, that this word must come in. And sure no other, but

:o shew Christ's special delight and love of that place. At

His rising this day, stetit in medioy and here He is come to JoIl20. i9.

His place again ; for stetit in medioy and Caput anguli, come both

to one. Therefore, that like love, like special regard be had

by us of that place, and of the virtue of that place, unity ;

that it be sought and preserved carefully, that the sides fly

not off, the well knitting whereof is the very strength of the

whole building.

By Bede it is rendered as a reason why the Jewish builders [Bed. in
refused our Saviour Christ for the head-place, quia in uno4\\,f^'
pariete stare amabant. * They could endure no corner, they
must stand alone upon their own single wall,' be of themselves ;
not join with Gentile, or Samaritan. And Christ they endured
not, because they thought, if He had been Head, He would
have inclined that way. Alias oves oportet Me adducere : alias Joh.io.i6.
they could not abide. But sure, a purpose there must be
alias oves adducendiy * of bringing in others,* of joining a
comer, or else we do not facere secundum exemplary build not Heb. 8. 6.
according to Christ's pattern : our fashion of fabric is not like
His. They that think to make Christ head of a single wall
are deceived, it will not be. They that say. So the Head, all
is well, it skills not for the corner, err too. He is Tcavialo^y
** a Corner-stone" first, and then ^AKpoyayvuuo^ "a Head-stone"
after. And they that had rather be a front in a wall, than in a
meaner place sub lapide angulari; and thcj' that stand upon
their own partition, and will not endure to hear of any
joining, care not what become of angulus, if it were strucken
out, "the same mind is not in them," in neither of them, Phil. 2. 6.
" which was in Christ Jesus." His mind we see. He looks
to the angle, as to the head ; and to the head, as to the angle.
And they build best, that build likest Him : " wisdom is jus- Lu. 7. 85.
lifted of all her children."

And last, the duty of the whole second part, and so, this i.

282 Of the Resurrection.

S £ R M. day's duty, is this. When the head*stone is brought forth
'• — and reared, as to day it was, we are to prosecute it wiA

Ps. 118. Hosannah, and Benedictus qui venity as it straightway followeth

Zech. 4.7 ^^ ^^^ Psalm, with acclamation of "Grace, grace unto it."
For so, saith the prophet, Lapis primarius would be laid with
rejoicing. Rejoicing, as in His regard that hath obtained
His due, so even in the building^s, that hath got such a Head;
such and so gracious a Head as could endure thus to be
refused by them, and yet admits yea even those that so
refused Him, if the fault be not in themselves, to be stones in
His building for all that, and to be members of the bodj
whereof He is the Head.
2. Then secondly, as God hath, so we to make Him Head.
Actually we cannot. He is made to our hands, but in
account we may; giving Him the highest place in all our

Pa. 138. 2. respects, " magnifying His Name and His Word above all
things." " His Word," making it our chief ground ; " His
Name," and the glory of it, making it our chief end. That
other considerations carry us not away, as these builders here

Joh. 11.48. it did, of Venient Romania or I wot not what ; but that ever,
as the heathen lawyer said, it be potior ratio quce facit pro
religione, 'the best reason that maketh best for religion,'
and for the good of the body of this Head, that is, the peace
of His Church. And this for Lapis erat Christus,
1. But lapis erat David, is likewise true. Therefore, that we

second do King David no wrong, let us shew how it fits him too;

David. ^^^ briefly, because this is not his day. David was " a stone."
The Jewsj say it was his nic-name or name of disgrace, that
in scorn they called him so. For that all his credit, forsooth,
came by casting a stone, and hitting Goliah by chance right
in the forehead ? and so they twitted him with that name.
They gave it him in scorn, but he bare it in earnest. For
sure much sorrow he endured, had that property of ^* a stone.'*
And nothing could remove him, or make him shrink from his
trust in God, or from his allegiance to Saul his liege-lord : —
that quality also.
2. And " refused" he was, not as Christ, we must not look for
that, neither in him nor in any. God forbid that any ever
should be so refused as He. As Christ, none but Christ
No ; but yet in his degree refused he was though. A hard

Of the Resurrection. 283

ime be had, and many hard terms, and hard usages he en-
lured, for many years together ; pursued and followed, and
ibould have been no head, nay should have had no head if he
tiad been gotten.

** Refused," and by whom? Even by Saul all his life- 3.
time 'y and when Saul was dead, Abner ^*refiised'' him, and 2 Sam. 2. 8.
set up another against him. And when he was out of his
country in Gath, " refused" there too by the princes of Achish. iSain.29.4.
And even at home by his own brethren and father's house, i Sam. 17.

28

Yea, Samuel himself had given it away, the head-place, from is^ni.i6.6.
him to Eliab, and so " refused" him, but for God. And these
went then for the chief builders in Israel at that time. So
the builders " refused" him.

But after all this, all this notwithstanding, this *^ stone
became the Head,'' that is, David got the crown, and was i Sam. 15.
King at last. For "head" is the King's name. So doth
Samuel call the King ; so doth Esay ; so doth Osee. But isa. 7. 8.
especially so Daniel in express terms, Tu es caput aureum^ Daul 2. 38.*
speaking to the king, " Thou art the head of gold."

" Head," and " of the corner ;" that is, as some interpret it,
of Judah and Israel. But that is thought somewhat hard.
For those two were not two kingdoms, nor ever so reckoned,
till Rehoboam's time. And what, if David had not happened
to have been first King of one tribe, and after of all, should
he have lost this name then? Should he not have been
aKp(r/(ovuiw'^ Shall no king be caput anguli^ if he have
but one entire kingdom? Shall not Solomon as well as
David ? No question but he shall.

The better part therefore think good to give it that sense
which never fails in any state, and which sundry times ye
shall find pointed at by David himself, as in the one hundred Ps. ii6.
and fifteenth Psalm before, and in the one hundred and p^ i35,x9,
thirty-fifth after. Yea, even here in this Psalm in the begin-
ning, Domus Israel^ and Domus Aaron^ " the House of Israel,
and the House of Aaron ;" that is, the two estates, civil and
ecclesiastical, which maketh the main angle in every govern-
ment. God Himself hath sever ed them, and made these two
but to meet in one ; not one to malign and consume the
other. And the happy combining of these two is the strength
of the head, and the strength of the whole building. If it

284 Of the Returrectioru

S E R M. l>ear but upon one of them, it will certainly decay. It did

^'' so in SauFs time : he little regarded the Ark, and less the

Priests. David saw Saul's error, and in his Psalm, where

P8. 75. 8. he singeth Ne perdas to a commonwealth, promiseth to have

equal care of both pillars, and to uphold them both.

The first Book of Chronicles is suflScient to prove and per-
suade any, he dealt in both as chief over both. Not by right
of priesthood, for none he had ; and that of his prophecy is
as cold. Others also did the like, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Ezekias,
Josiah, that were no Prophets, nor ever so accounted.
rPhii. In the law — it is Philo's note, both tables met in the fifth

w€plrov commandment which 'is the crown-commandment, as it were
ris 6 r&y \j^ ^LW angle ; which commandment is placed, saith he, ©9 iv
wpayfuifrup fieaopup ^ Bs it werc in the middle, or confines of both
*^$'^ire^ tables,' that of religion, and this other of justice civil ; that
med.] with the right arm the Prince may support that, and with. the
left this, and so uphold both. And in the Gospel, Christ
Mat2i.42. applieth this very verse to Himself, as Heir of the Vineyard.
1^ 7. 13, jjgjj. jjg ^^g not, but as King, not as Priest; He could not,
for of that tribe He was not born, but was called to it as was
Aaron.

Since then here we find both, and that David was both, it
is no error I trust to call a King caput anguli ; no more is
it to call him lapidem primariuniy or angularem^ choose ye
whether. The Persian, by the light of nature, called the
King Ahashuerosh, that is, * Sovereign head.' The Grecian,
by the same light, called the King BaaiKia, that is, fidoiv
Tov Tixiov, * the base or corner stone of his people.'

Shall I add this? This word "stone,'' which is here

affirmed of David in this verse, is in the New Testament,

five several times, turned by the Syrian Translator, Cephas ;

Mat2i.42. thrice in the three Gospels, once in the Acts, and once in

Mark 12. g^ Peter. So that he did not think it strange to call King

Lu. 20. 17. David Cephas. So Cephas, as well said of David as of Peter.

Acts 4. 11.

1 Pet. 2. 7. -^^^ ^^ pasces as well said to David, as pasce to Peter. And

2 Sam. 5. 2. Zerubbabel hath in his hand the line, as well as Joshua the
2. ^^^' * High Priest, towards the building of the temple. The thing,
Zech.4.10. the duty itself, and the bounds of it, let us lay forth and

agree of as we can ; but sure the name is not to be stood on,
it cannot be denied him.

Of the Resurrection, 285

And now to ourselves, to whom as " this is the clay which 8.
the Lord hath made," touching Christ and His resurrection, g^nse.
so is it likewise the day that He hath made the second time, ^^8^^-
by making on it his Majesty head of this kingdom, the very
name * whereof hath affinity, and carrieth an allusion to the [* Angiia."]
term anguli in the sound of it.

And neither were your Majesty without your part ofi.
refusing in a kind, but did participate somewhat of it with
David, though in a less degree. Good, and firm, and sure,
though your right were as any stone, yet allegations were
studied to subject it to question, yea to refusing. For did
nobody ever see a project drawn, wherein some other stone
was marked out to have been caput anguli ? Yes, it is well
known, titles were raised and set on foot, and books written
to that end.

And they took themselves for no mean workmen that were 2.
the devisers of them, that both at home and abroad contrived
it another way, and plotted to have put you by, and to have
had some other head-stone of their own hewing out in
your room.

Yea, to make your case yet more like to Christ's case, even 3.
the High Priest, he that claimeth Caiaphas' place, he and his
crew had their hands in it. We may no less truly say to
them than St. Peter said to Caiaphas ; Quern vos, ^^ Whom ye"
would have cast aside, if ye might have had your wills. And
to that end had your first breves ready drawn and sent abroad,
and others in a readiness to second them.

Yet for all their breves and bulls, this stone is the head for 4.
all that. Factus *made* he is, and made by God. For a
Domino^ God's doing it was evidently, that after so much
plotting so many years together, at the very time God bowed
the hearts of so many thousands, as it had been the heart of
one man, to agree in one ; as that all that foresaw it thought
it had not been possible, and all that saw it confessed it
admirable, and " all men said, This hath God done, for they Ps. 64. 9.
saw evidently it was His work."

The head you were then made, and head not of one 4.
angle, as you were before, for caput anguli I hold a King to
be though he have but one kingdom, but caput trianguli^
head now of three, even of the whole * triangle.' So their

286 Of the Resurrection.

SERM. titles were dashed, their plots disappointed, and all their

'- — devices as the potter's clay. Yours it was of right, and God

' hath brought you to it. So it is, and our eyes do see it, and
our hearts do joy in it, and our tongues bless God for it ; and
here we are this day with all praise and thanks to acknowledge
it, that so it is. It is a part of this day's duty, that so we
should acknowledge it, and give Him thanks for it That
brought it to pass.
2. And may I not farther put you in mind of another making
yet ? And it is not impertinent neither, to this day especially.
For after the first making or placing, look how many afte^
attempts are made to unmake or displace the head-stone
again ; so many times as it is heaved at to that end, and
those attempts defeated, so many new placings, so many neir
makings, are we to reckon of. David was made head, not
only when Saul and Abner sought to put him down, and
were put down themselves, which was before he came to the
crown ; but even after he had it, and had worn it long, when
2Sam.20.i. Absalom and Sheba refused him being their head, and
cried, " No part in David," and so sought to set him besides
the throne.
2 Sam. 15. And builders there wanted not in that design : Absalom
2 Sam. 17. ^^^ Ahithophel and Amasa, two as principal master-builders,
^^' as then were any. When God brought David back to his

seat again, and delivered him from them that sought to
remove him from it, He did as good as place him in it
anew. David himself saith so before, at the thirteenth verse.
"He was shrewdly lifted at, and ready to turn over; but
God stayed him, and set him right in his seat again." And
in very deed the verse next before, the twenty-first, where he
saith, "God had heard him, and was become his Deliverer,"
makes the writers to think this Psalm was indited rather for
this second, than for his first placing.

Now a like second making we may well remember, and we
cannot do it better than upon this day. This day, as we shall
see, hath an interest in it. That since your sitting in the
seat of this kingdom, some there were, builders one would
have taken them to be if he had seen them with their tools
in their hands, as if they had been to have laid some founda-
tion ; where their meaning was, to undermine, and to cast

Of the Resurrection, 287

own foundations and all ; yea, to have made a right stone of
ou, and blown you up among the stones, you, and yours
rithout any more ado.

And master-builders they had amongst them, so they will 2.
leeds be accounted, that encouraged their hearts, and
strengthened their hands to the work. And that they might
io, there was no seal to hinder it ; but disclose it that they
might not, for fear of breaking a seal, there was a seal for
that. And thus did they cedificare ad gehennam^ * edify their
followers to hell ward,' to set them forward and send them to Acts 1.25.

Q

their own place. That day which God undid that wretched
design, and brought their mischief upon their own heads,
that day did God make you caput trianguU the second time.
That day that He brought you back, if not from death itself,
yet from death's door, from the very gates of destruction,
that day was a very Easter-day to you, though it were in
November. And, w? ev irapa^oXfj^ "after a sort," a very
resurrection ; as very a resurrection as Isaac's was, which the
Apostle there speaketh of. That day, the destroying Angel, Heb.ii.i9.
I am sure, passed over you, and so it was truly the Feast of
the Passover. Fit therefore to be remembered this day, —
hie est dies, * this is the day* of the Passover, this is Easter-
day, the day of the Resurrection.

But to return to the first making of all. By the true course
of the year, this month, being the very month, this day being
the very day of that, of the first laying of this head-stone, we
are as before in Christo Domino, so again here in christo
Dominiy to prosecute it with David's cry of Hosanna, and
Benedictus ; and with Zachary's acclamation of " Grace, grace
unto it," even to this head-stone. " Grace," in His eyes That
so made you ; and again, " Grace" in their eyes and hearts to
whom He so made you. But above all, the grace of all
graces, that you may make Him ever your *AKpoya)vuim
" your stone of chief trust," and your mark of highest regard,
in all your counsels and purposes. That so made you; and
seek to reduce the disjecta latera, ^ the sides and walls flying
ofl^,' of this great building for which the world itself was built.
His Church, and reduce them to one angle, the greatest
service that can be done Him on earth.

And so, He that this day made you the head, so make you.

n

288 Of the Resurrection.

8 B R M. and so keep you long, and many days I fie that refiised

'■ — them that refused you, refused them with reprobation, stiB

may He so do, toties quoties, to their continual confusion ; diat
the head over the triangle, and the triangle under the head,
may many years stand fast and flourish, in all peace, plenty,
and prosperity, health, honour, and happiness ! And after
all. He that hath crowned you here with two crowns already,
crown you also with the third of glory and immortality in His
Heavenly kingdom I

I have now done. Only I would move one thing, and it
shall well agree with that hath been said of the comer-stone,
and it shall serve to further our duty of thanks, and be a good
closing up of the whole. Many ways was Christ, our blessed
Saviour, a " Corner-stone ;" among others, especially in this,
saith St. Hierome; Quando agnum cum pane conjunxityJinieM
ununif inchoans alterum, utrumque perjiciens in Semetipso. One
chief comer-point of His was, ' when He joined the Lamb of
the Passover and the Bread of the Eucharist, ending the I
one and beginning the other, recapitulating both Lamb and
Bread into Himself;' making that Sacrament, by the very
institution of it, to be as it were the very comer-stone of
both the Testaments.

No act then more fit for this feast, the feast of the Passover,
than that act which is itself the passage over from the Old
Testament to the New. No way better to express our thanks
for this Corner-stone, than by the holy Eucharist, which itself
is the corner-stone of the Law and the Gospel.

1. And there is in it a perfect representation of the substance
of this verse and text set before our eyes. Wherein two
poor elements of no great value in themselves, but that they
might well be refused, arc exalted by God to the estate of a
divine mystery, even of the highest mystery in the Church of
Christ.

2. And a kind of resurrection there is in them, and therefore
fit for the day of the Resurrection, as ever in Christ's Church
Easter-day hath pleaded a special property in them. Sown

iCk)r.i6.43. as it were, in weakness and dishonour ; and, after they be
consecrated, rising again in honour and power.

And that, a great honour and power, not only to represent,
but to exhibit that it representeth, nor to set before us, or

Of the Resurrection, 289

remember us of, but even to serve us for a corner-stone.
First, uniting us to Christ the "Head," whereby we grow
into one frame of building, into one body mystical, with Him.
And again, uniting us also as living stones, or lively members,
omnes in id ipsuniy one to another, and all together in one, by
natural love and charity. Qui comedit de hoc Pane, et hibit de Joh. 6. 66,
hoc Caliccy manet in Me, et Ego in illo, " He that eateth of this
Bread, and drinketh of this Cup, abideth in Me, and I in him."
There is our comer with Him. And again, Unum corpus iCor.io.i7.
omnes sumus, qui de uno pane participamus, ^'AU we that
partake of one bread or cup, grow all into one body mystical."
There is our comer, either with other. By the same means
expressing our thanks for it, and by the same possessing our-
selves of it; sealing up both ways our duty to God for making
Christ the Lord our greatest and chiefest, and for making
His anointed this day, under Him, either in their several
degrees, our d/cpoyfovuiLo^, "our chief, or head comer-stone."
For which, together with all other His benefits, but especially
as the time calleth to us, for these two, Christ's rising, and
our Sovereign's raising to His royal place, render we, as we are
bound, to God the Father, &c.

A SERMON

PAKACBXD BSVOaS

THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE TWELFTH OF APEIL, AJD. MDCXII., BEING EASTEE-DAT.

1 Corinthians v. 7, 8,

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump,

as ye are unleavened ; for Christ our Passover is sacrificed

for us:
Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither with

the leaven of maliciousness and wickedness; hut with the

unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

[Expurgate veins fermentum, ut sitis nova conspersio, sicut estis
azymi, Etenim Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus :

Itaque epulemur, nan in fermento veteri, neque in fermento malitue,
et nequitiiB : sed in azymis sinceritatis, et veritatis. Latin Vulg.]

[Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may he a new lump, as

ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed

for us :
Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the

leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of

sincerity and truth, Engl. Trans.]

S E R M. There be two things give themselves forth upon the very

' — first view of this text. 1. First, here is news, that we Chris-
tians, we also have "our Passover:'^ 2. Then, that in memory

[Joh.2.13.] of it, we are "to keep a feast." Pascha Judceorum, "the
Jews' Passover" we find in John, chapters two and eleven.

[Job. 11. Pascha nostrum, " our Passover," never tilfnow. And indeed,

■-' to find a Passover in St. Paul's Epistles, and his Epistle, not

to the Hebrews but to the Corinthians, their Passover as

well as his ; for him to call, not his countrymen the Jews at

Jerusalem, but the Gentiles at Corinth, to keep such a feast.

Of the Resurrection. 291

3 news indeed. But Pascha nostrum, the words be plain, one
'^e have. Itaque, and " therefore let us hold a feast" for it.

And truly, upon this word, celebremus, may this feast of
ur Easter seem to be founded. There is not only a warrant,
ut an order for the making it a feast. And sure, howsoever

will fall out with other feasts, this of Easter, if there were
othing else but the controversy that was about the time of
eeping it, in the very prime of the Primitive Church, even
a mediately after the Apostles, it were enough to shew it
as then generally agreed of all, such a feast was to be kept.
.nd the alleging on either side — one, St. John's manner of
seping, the other, St. Peter's — proves plainly it is Apo-
olical^ this feast, and that the Apostles themselves kept it.
^aqtie cekbremus, ^* therefore let us keep it."

The word itaquey in the latter verse, is ever a note of a con- The di-
usion ; and where a conclusion is, there is an argument, ^^^*^°-
id so is the text It standeth of an 1. antecedent, and
2. consequent 1. The antecedent, in these words: "Christ
iir Passover," &c. 2. The consequent, in these: itaque
*lebremus, 8^c, Supply but this maxim of reason and law — If
e have one, we are to hold one; the text will make up
complete argument : but one we have, therefore we are to
old it. Habendum et tenendum, as our tenures run.

In the antecedent there rise these five points: 1. the main i.
ord " Passover," what is meant by it ; — Pascha, 2. That we
ave one, in the word nostrum. 3. Who it is expressly; — Christ.
» Christ how, or when? not every way, nor at every time
^nsidered; but as and when He was "offered up," immo^
itus, " offered up as a sacrifice." 5. And lastly, the word of
ur interest, propter nos, "for us;" that so we might pass over
ur sins, and be passed over by the punishment due to them.

In the consequent there arise two points: 1. There is an ii.
ague, to conclude us to " keep this feast." 2. And there is a
on, and a sed, to direct us how to keep it. The former
inds us to celehremus, to celebrate a feast ; or to epulemur, to
lake a feast. Both are read; and both well, for both are
ue. The latter, by non in fermento, sed in azymis, not so but
bus, teacheth us how to hold it How to keep a Passover ? but
8 a Passover should be kept. How was that ? not with
javen, but with sweet bread. And then he takes off the

u2

r

L

J

it

a

ir

292 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. veil from Moses' face, that under the legal types of leaven,

'- — and sweet bread, these evangelical duties are expressed unto

us. By "leaven/' is meant "malice and lewdness;" and so,
we may not. By "sweet bread," is meant ** sincerity and
truth ;" and so we are with them to " celebrate our feast*'

So, in the antecedent, there is the 1. benefit, and the
2. means; — that is Christ's part. In the consequent, 1. the
feast, and the 2. duty ; — that is ours. Indeed, to the word
"Passover," ye may reduce them all. 1. The benefit: for it
is a " Passover," even the passing over of the destroyer.
2. The means : that is Christ, by the sacramental figure cdled
the " Passover," as the means of it 8. " The Feast :" whether
that we solemnize, or that we are invited to, either is a
" Passover." 4. And last our duty : for that is also a kind of
" Passover," firom vetus fermentum, to nova conspersio. So,
1. the benefit, 2. the means^ 3. the feast itself and 4. the
duty of it, all are recapitulate in this one word " Passover."

The sum of all is, that we perform the duty that we so

may partake of the benefit : all is but to conclude us ad hoc

festum, ad hoc epulurriy "to the feast and the feast of the

feast," that we pass not them over. This is all that St. Paul

here pleads for, and all that we. Enough, to let you see the

text in the feast, and the feast in the text : in the text, the

parts and the order of them.

I- Pascha, " a Passover." Qucenam esthtec reliffio, (saith God)

tecedent. shall be our question? "What is the meaning of this

meant bV^ observance," and what good is there in it? For, every feast

Ex* 12*^ 26 ^^ ^^ remembrance of some benefit, eoprrj, on ict^ opwrcu. I

[' ^A, L e. Passing over is, of itself, a thing indifferent ; good or bad,

"^" ^ thereafter as that is which passeth over us, or we over it. For

if any good overpass us, we lose by it ; but if any danger,

we are the better. Again, if we pass fi-om better to worse, it

is a detriment, but if from a worse case or place to a better, it

is a benefit. And this is a benefit, for here is a feast holden

for it Then did some evil pass over us, or we ourselves pass

over into some better state.

The Law must be our line, to lead us all along this text;
the character of it is legal. How was it there ? Evil passed
Ex. 12.29. them ; a destroying Angel, that "slew the first-born in every
house through Egypt," but passed them over, and touched '

Of the Resurrection, 293

them not. And yet there was another : they passed out of
Egypt, to the land of promise, over the Red Sea. They
passed it well; as for Pharaoh and his host, they perished
in it. Ye shall find both these thus set down together;
Heb. 11. in the twenty-eighth verse, the destroyer did pass
over them ; in the twenty-ninth verse, they did pass over into
Canaan. The Egyptians perished in both, had no Passover ;
.God's people had.

But what is this to us? Here is Pascha^ but where is 2. "Our
nostrum ? We are not in Egypt, no fear of our first-born, wh^Si^Tis.
here is no destroying Angel ; and we are far enough from the
Red Sea. What then, if our case fall out to be like, if our
danger as great, and so it will. Here we live, we call it a
" vale of misery ;'' in a world whereof Egypt is but a corner, Ps. 84. 6.
and was but a type ; nor their Pharaoh but a limb of the
great Pharaoh that tyrannizeth here in this world. 2. We
have every one a soul ; it is not our first-born, it is more,
even unicam meam, as the Psalmist calleth it, the first, and all Ps. 22. 20.
that we have. 3. It skills not for the Angel ; God's wrath Vulgate!]
is still ready to be revealed on our sins : from that cometh
all destruction. The angels do but carry the " vials" of it. Rev. 16.
4. And death will match the Red Sea ; all must through it, ^'^^'
and some pass well, but the most part perish.

Now tj^n for nostrum. Our abode here is as dangerous as
theirs in Egypt ; as many destroyers, yea as many crocodiles
too, and therefore we need a Paschuy to escape God's wrath,
to have it pass over us here.

And yet there rests another besides. For how well we shall
do with that former I know not, but to the latter we must all
come, to death, to the Red Sea brink ; and there either perish,
or pass well over, one of the twain. Sure, Pascha nostrum is
not more than needs ; Pascha nobis opus esty * we need one, a
Passover,' no less than they.

Nay, I go farther, ours is such as theirs. Theirs is nihil ad
nostrum^ * nothing to ours.' For what talk we of a delivery of
one poor nation, and that but from a bodily danger, and but
one neither ? Call ye that a Passover ? How much more
then ours, the great and general Passover that freeth us?
that freeth all mankind from the total destruction both of body
and soul, and that by an eternal delivery both here and for

294 Oftlie Resurrection.

S E R M. ever ? How to escape that, God's wrath, ira ventura, that is

VTT

— the true Passover. And what mention we Canaan ? Is there

any comparison between the two kingdoms of Canaan and
Heaven, whither Christ shall make us pass ? Indeed, Pasck
nostrum is it, ours, and none but ours. Theirs but a shadow,
ours the substantial, very Passover indeed. When all is done,
Pascha nostrum is it.

Will ye give me leave to present you with a meditation upon
this point ? it will fit the feast well, and serve us for a prepa-
ration to onr Passover, and I will not fetch it far, but even
from the word Passover. For all the labour is, but to make
us feel the want of it.

Ecc. 1. 4. Est sapientis querela^ transire generationem^ aliam succedere^
aliam quoqve transire. It is that the Apostle tells us, and we

1 Cor. 7. 81. feel it, mundus transit^ that "the world passes." Ilapaffei,

lJoh.2.17. saith St. Paul, irapdyeraty saith St. John, in the active and
passive both; *'the world passeth away." JEt en Paschoj
en transitusy a kind of Passover of the world itself, of this tran-

Heb. 13.14. sitory world, as we term it, ttbi nan habemus manentem, ^>
" where we cannot long have any abode."

2. But then, if we look home to ourselves, we shall find
Ps. 90. 10. another Passover there, even that of the Psalm ; Cito transit

et avolamusy " we pass as a shadow, as a dream, when one
awaketh," we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that
is told. Cito transit y " so soon passeth it and we are gone."
Jas. 3. 6. St. James very excellently expresseth it, t/oo;)^o9, a very
'* wheel" of our nature whirling about ; that the world pass-
eth, but we faster than it.

3. But the third is the complaint indeed; that transitory
though this world be, and we yet more transitory, yet we can-
not pass it quietly for all that But some wipe we have of
the AngePs sword ; at least- wise in fear we live still of those

Ps. 91. 6, 6. in the Psalm, sagitta volanSy or terror noctumus, or incursus,
or dcBMon meridianus. One of Egypt's ten plagues, one of

Rev. 6.4-8. the AngePs vials, or of the horses, red, black, or pale, are
still abroad ; much ado we have, without some mishap, to pass
this life that passeth so fast.

4. But lastly, say that we have the good hap to scape well
here, yet hence we must ere long to the Red Sea bank, we must
come to death all; and death is not interitus, *a final end,'

Of the Resurrection. 295

but transitusy * a passage over' to a new estate. There is the
main peril, that we miscarry not — great odds there is, for
many do— but pass well over into the land of promise.

These four Passovers it will not be amiss to think of. And
in all these, need we not one to help us well through, that
these perils may well pass us over ? Need we not one that
may make the Red Sea passable for us, that we may well
come to the land of the living?

And now then tell me, what is the sum of all our desires?
Is it not honum Pascha 9 While we are here, the destroyers
may pass, and when we go hence, we may well get over? Is
it not Sic transire transitoria, ut transeundo perveniamus ad
(Btema ? * So to pass these transitory things, that we may
well come to those that shall never pass V A good Passover is
our wish, and against we shall need it, a good one God send
us I Upon the point, if we weigh well, salus ipsa nihil est
nisi Pascha, * the benefit of all benefits, salvation itself^ is
comprised in this word, is nothing but a Passover ;' as much
in one word as the other, transire a malo^ * to be saved from
evil,' transire ad honum, ^ to be set safe in good.' To these two
may all be reduced ; this is all we need, and all we seek. And
this parasceue, or " preparation," will set us in hand to seek
it, and make us say with our Saviour, desiderio desideravi ut^vL, 22. 16.
^c. ^^ earnestly to desire, to have our part in this Passover."

The next point : if we need one, and if we desire one, where 3. Who it]

is

shall we have one ? Quis revolvet nobis hunc lapidem 9 ** Who ^j^rk i6.3.
will roll us away this stone," said the women this day. To
our line again, the Law. How did they there in the type ?
for so it must be in the truth. They had a means that helped
them through both, which, per metonymian causes, they called
their Passover. And it was a lamb.

Have we so ? Yes. Ecce Agnus Dei, said the Baptist at Christ

% n ' t -n 1 1 Ml -1 "theLamb

the nrst sight. But every lamb will not serve, it must be a of God."

Paschal lamb. Is Christ that Lamb ? St. John puts it out

of question. That which was said of the Paschal lamb, " ye Joh. 1.29.

TnVi 1 Q 'Ifi

shall not break a bone of him," he applies to Christ, and
saith, in Him the '* Scripture was fulfiUed.^^ Eodem tempore,
illorum, et nostrum, adductus in Festo ipso.

Then a Paschal Lamb He is, and so in case to be made a 4. "Christ
Passover of. But a Passover He is not, till He be offered, sacrifice."

296 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. For if ye mark it, offering is a passing over of that is offered,
to Him we offer it to ; offered He must be. Et oblatus est^

[See the saith Esay, "offered He was."
Vulgate.] Oblatus : SO He may be, and yet alive ; but the word is
€Tv0rf, immolatusy "offered," and "offered in sacrifice." A
live lamb is not it, it is a lamb slain must be our Passover.
Rev. 5. 12. And Christ is a " Lamb slain" saith St. John " from the
Rev. 18. 8. beginning," and the sprinkling of His blood in Baptism,

maketh the destroyer pass over us.

Ab a peace- There be many kinds of offerings ; this determine th, which

enng. ^f ^^g^j Christ was. Such an one, as we mustepulari; that

Lev. 7. 16, is, the peace-offering. For of the peace-offering, the flesh

was to be eaten. Part God had, and part the offerer eat,

in sign of perfect peace and reconciliation between them.

Christ's blood not only in the basin for Baptism, but in the

cup for the other Sacrament. A sacrifice — so, to be slain j

a propitiatory sacrifice — so, to be eaten.

5. Our in- Thus " Christ is a Passover." But where is nostrum, without

P^ter which all this is nothing ? Propter nos " for us," that maketh

^'' it ours. That which is " for us offered" is ours, and we so

Ex. 13. 15. reckon it. The lamb was not slain for itself — Quid agnus com-

mittere ? — but for the first-bom. So Christ, not for Himself,

Lu. 23. 4. ("nothing worthy death in Him" — witness Pilate) but for us.

To save us ^^^ "^> ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ salvation, to save us. Save us from
from our what ? From our sins. And here now, we are come to the

sinB. , ^ /

point of the Passover indeed ; the quitting us, and the man-
ner of quitting us from our sins. All the business whereof
was carried in the very manner of a Passover.
1. First, sin itself, what is it but a transgression or passing over

vofia. ^^ j.^^g ^^j limits of our duty, set us in the law of God?
And why hovers the destroying Angel over us ? Why goeth
he not on his way, but seeks to bring destruction upon our
heads ? What is the mark he striketh at ? What, but our
sins? But for them, no destroyer should ever have power
over us. But for them that hang so heavy on us, and so press
us down, we shall go through well enough.
2. Why then, hie est omnis fructus ut auferatur peccatum;
'all is but this, to have our sins taken away.' And who
Juh. 1. 29. shall tahe them away ? JEcce Qui tollit peccata mundi^ That
" taketh away" ours, nay " the sins of the world."

Of the Resurrection. 297

How " taketh away T^ '^ God hath taken away thy sin/' 3.
saith Nathan to David ; the word is not abstulit. but transtulit. 2 Sam. 12.

13.

that is, transferendo abstulit ; or as the Hebrew word is, transire i^^yn
fecit. To take it from David, make it pass from him upon
some other, that is, even the Son of David, Him God hath
given us, to pass our sins over from us to Him.

And when that? when He was offered, made a sacrifice 4.
for us. It is the nature of every sacrifice, transferendo auferre.
He that offers it *' lays his hands on the head of it," confesses Lev. i.4.
his sins over it, and his just desert to be smitten by the Lev. 3. 2.
destroyer ; but prays he may put this offering in his own Lev. 8. 14.
place, and what is due to him, that is death, may be trans-
ferred from him, and light on the offering ; that may serve,
and he scape.

In all offerings thus it was, but in the Paschal lamb 5.
specially, that it hath carried away the name from all the rest,
to be called the Passover only. In it evidently, the death of
the first-born was translated over upon the poor lamb. The Ex. 13. 16.
lamb died, the first-born was saved, his death passed over
unto the lamb; that it was justly called the Passover, for so
it was.

But much more justly Christ, Who sure was even a Pass- 6.
over throughout from the first to the last. At the first : His
birth, what was it but a Passover from the bosom of His
Father to the womb of His mother, to take our nature ? And
His Circumcision what, but a Passover from the state of one
free, to the condition of one bond, to undertake our debt ?
And at the last. His Resurrection, this day, what was it but a
passage from death to life? and His Ascension another, de
mundo ad Patrem, "from the world to His Father?" First and
last, a Passover He was.

But above all. His death. His offering, was it. Then He 7.
was Pascha pro nobis indeed. For then He passed over into
the estate of us wretched sinners, laid off His own, as it were,
and took upon Him our person ; became tanquam unus e
nobis, nay tanquam omnes nos. For God took from us, and
laid them on Him, posuit super Eum iniquitates omnium isa. 63. 6.
nostrum^ " laid upon Him," our Passover, " the transgressions
of us all." Fecit peccatum, "made Him sin for us" — there, our 2 Cor. 5. 21.
sins passed from us. Fedt maledictum, *' made Him a curse Gal. 3. 13.

298 Of the BesurrecHon.

8 E R IL for us ;" — there the punishment of our sins passed from us to

Him. Then, and there, passed the destroyer over us.

Over us, to Him. But when he came at Him, he passed
Mat 26. 39. Him not, Transeat a me calix would not be heard, and it
was Paschay non Paschoj " a Passover^ to us, no ** Passover" to
Him. We had one. He had none. Him it passed not, but
light upon Him so heavy, that, it made a sweat of bloody
LiL 22. 44. drops pass from Him, yea life and soul and all, ere it left
Him. At which His Passion He was a right Passover,
Christus TTCMJ^G)!/, Christus Pascha. Then He was pro nobis,
then He was nostrum ; "Christ,*' " Christ offered,^' ''offered for
us." Of which passing our sins to Him, and God's wrath over
us, this day, and the action of this day, is a memorial.
IL And so let us pass over from the antecedent to the conse-

quent, quent, which is itaque cekbremus, " therefore let us keep a
feast." "A feast," and Christ slain, and so handled as He was?
A fast rather one would think. True, but that we heard
again of ours ; so did not they of theirs. For this He came
again safe, and opened unto us a new passage by His second
Passover. All we spake of right now was done the third day
since, but we hold not our feast till this day. For till this day
we knew not what was become of Him. Passed He was
hence, but whether in His passage He had miscarried or no,
we knew not But now, this day, by His resurrection we
know He is well passed oyer, and so omni mode a true
Passover. So now we hold our feast, as a feast should be
holden, with joy. And a double feast it is: 1. one, that by
His suffering He passed from life to death for our sins; 2.
a second, that by His rising again this day. He passed from
Rom. 4.25. life to death " for our justification.^^ And so two Passovers
in one. He died, and by His death made the destroyer pass
over us ; He rose again, and by. it made death, as the Red
Sea, passable for us. Itaque celehremus^ itaque epulemur,
•EopT<{f«- 'Eoprd^cofiev, the word is one, but two ways it is turned.
Ceiebre- ^^ Some read, celebremus, 2. Some other, epulemur. But
Sr^" well : for first, it is kindly when we keep a feast, we make a
feast. But this, this feast, is not celebrated sine hoc epulo. If
Christ be a propitiatory sacrifice, a peace-offering, I see not
how we can avoid but the flesh of our peace-offering must be
eaten in this feast by us, or else we evacuate the oflering

Of the Resurrection. 299

utterly, and lose the fruit of it. And was there a Passover
heard of, and the Lamb not eaten ? Time was when he was
thought ho good Christian, that thought he might do one
without the other. No celehremus without epulemur in it.

But first, will ye lay the former and this together, immo- i. immo-
latfis and celehremus^ and see how well it falleth out with us ? ^^r^Lt.
ImmolatiLS is His part, to be slain. Celehremus is ours, to
hold a feast. Good-Friday His, Easter-Day ours. His pre-
mises bitter, our conclusion joyful ; a loving partition on His
part, an happy on ours.

Again, will we lay immolatus to epulemur ? That the Pass- 2. imnw
over doth not conclude in the sacrifice, the taking away of sin epulemur,
only, that is, in a pardon, and there an end, but in a feast,
which is a sign, not of forgiveness alone, but of perfect amity,
full propitiation. Ye may propius ire, "draw near unto Heb. 10.22.
Him ;" ye are restored to full grace and favour, to eat and
drink at His table.

Besides, there was an offering in immolatus, and here
is another, a new one, in epulemur. Offered for us there,
offered to us here. There per modum victimcB, here per
modum epulL To make an offering of, to make a refreshing
of. For us in the Sacrifice, to us in the Sacrament. This
makes a perfect Passover. We read both in the Gospel,
ird<r)(a Oveiv, " to sacrifice the Passover," and irdaxO' (f>a^€iv, Lu, 22. 7.
" to eat" it. It was eaten, the Paschal lamb, and it was joh. 18.28*
" a sacrifice ;" it cannot be denied, there is a flat text for it. Ex. 12. 27.
Both propounded here in the terms of the text: 1. the
Sacrifice in immolatus, 2. the Supper in epulemur.

Celehremus, and epulemur. There be that refer celehremus
to the day, epulemur to the action, and so it may well ; both
day and action have interest in this text. And then the text
is against them that have never an Easter-day in their
calendar. But the Fathers usually refer both to the action.
Their reason, because in truth the Eucharist now in the
Gospel is that the Passover was under the Law, the antitype
answering to their type of the Paschal lamb. It is plain by
the immediate passage of it from the one to the other, that
no sooner done, but this began. Look how soon the Pas-
chal lamb eaten, presently the holy Eucharist instituted, to
succeed in the place of it for ever. And yet more plain, that

300 Of tlie Resurrection.

S E R M. this very Scripture of my text was thought so pertinent,

'■ — so proper to this action, as it was always said, or sung at it

And I know no cause but it might be so still. Two thingB
1 Cor. 11. Christ there gave us in charge : 1. avafivrjac^^ ** remembering," J::
iCorioie *^^ ^' ^^^^ "receiving." The same two, St. Paul, but in
other terms, 1. KaTorfyeXKia "shewing forth;'' 2. Koiptovla
" communicating." Of which, " remembering" and " shewing
forth" refer to celebremuSy " receiving" and " communicating^
to epulemur here.
1. CeUbre- The first, in remembrance of Him, Christ. What of Him?
llTthe Mortem Domini^ His death, saith St. Paul, " to shew forth the |-f
^r.i Lk Lord's death." Remember Him ? That we will and stay at
home, think of Him there. Nay, shew Him forth ye must
That we will by a sermon of Him. Nay, it must be hocfadJbc*
It is not mental thinking, or verbal speaking, there must be
actually somewhat done to celebrate this memory. That done
to the holy symbols that was done to Him, to His body and
His blood in the Passover ; break the one, pour out the other,
to represent k\xo/jl€vop, how His sacred body was ** broken,"
and ifcxyvofjLevop, how His precious blood was " shed." And in
Corpus fractunty and Sanguis fusus there is immolatus. This b
it in the Eucharist, that answereth to the sacrifice in the Pass-
over, the memorial to the figure. To them it was, Hocfadk
in Mei priBjigurationemy ^ do this in prefiguration of Me :' to
Lu. 22. 19. us it is, " Do this in commemoration of Me.^' To them pre-
iCJor.11.26. ^^y^^-^^g^ to us annuntiare; there is the difierence. By the
same rules that theirs was, by the same may ours be termed a
sacrifice. In rigour of speech, neither of them ; for to speak
Heb. 10. 4. after the exact manner of Divinity, there is but one only |

sacrifice, veri nominis, ^properly so called,^ that is Christ's
Heb. 9. 28. death. And that sacrifice but once actually performed at
His death, but ever before represented in figure, from the
beginning ; and ever since repeated in memory, to the world's
end. That only absolute, all else relative to it, representative
of it, operative by it. The Lamb, but once actually slain in
the fulness of time, but virtually was from the beginning, is
and shall be to the end of the world. That the centre, in
which their lines and ours, their types and our antitypes do
meet. While yet this ofiering was not, the hope of it was
kept alive by the prefiguration of it in theirs. And after it I

Of the Resurrection. 301

is past, the memory of it is still kept fresh in mind by the
i^nmiemoration of it in ours. So it was the will of God, that
lo there might be with them a continual foreshowing, and
nrith us a continual shewing forth, the " Lord's death till He
some again." Hence it is that what names theirs carried,
ours do the like, and the Fathers make no scruple at it — no
more need we. The Apostle in the tenth chapter com pare th i cJor. lo.
ihis of ours to the immolata of the heathen: and to the J\ ,* ^

' , Heb. 18.10.

Hebrews, habemus aram^ matcheth it with the sacrifice of the
Jews. And we know the rule of comparisons, they must be
^usdem generis.

Neither do we stay here, but proceed to the other, epulemur. 2. Epuie-
Tor there is another thing yet to be done, which doth pre- J^J^^
«ent to us that which celebremus doth represent. From the Sacra-
Sacrament is the applying the Sacrifice. The Sacrifice in
general, pro omnibus. The Sacrament in particular, to each
teveral receiver, pro singulis. Wherein that is offered to us
that was offered for us ; that which is common to all, made
proper to each one, while each taketh his part of it; and
made proper by a communion and union, like that of meat
and drink, which is most nearly and inwardly made ours, and
is inseparable for ever. There, celebremus passe th with the
xepresentation ; but here, epulemur, as a nourishment, abideth
with us still. In that we " see," and in this " we taste, how Ps. 34. 8.
gracious the Lord is," and hath been to us. And so much
for these two as two means to partake the benefit, and we to
nse them ; and as duties required of us, and we to perform
them.

Will ye mark one thing more, that epulemur doth here refer
to immolatus f To Christ, not every way considered, but as
when He was offered. Christ's body that now is. True;
bat not Christ's body as now it is, but as then it was, when it
was offered, rent, and slain, and sacrificed for us. Not, as
nowHe is, glorified, for so He is not, so He cannot be immo-
latus^ for He is immortal and impassible. But as then He
was when He suffered death, that is, passible and mortal.
Then, in His passible estate did He institute this of ours, to
be a memorial of His passibile and Passio both. And we are
in this action not only carried up to Christ, ( Sursum corda,)
but we are also carried back to Christ as He was at the very

302 Of the Resun'ection,

SERM. instant^ and in the very act of His offering. So, and no

'■ — otherwise, doth this text teach. So, and no otherwise, do

we represent Him. By the incomprehensible power of His
eternal Spirit, not He alone, but He, as at the very act of His
offering, is made present to us, and we incorporate into His
death, and invested in the benefits of it If an host could be
turned into Him now glorified as He is, it would not serve;
Joh. 3. 14. Christ offered is it, — thither we must look. To the Serpent
Lu. 17. 37. lift up, thither we must repair, even ad cadaver; we must hoc
'•^^* ' facercy do that is then done. So, and no otherwise, is this
epulare to be conceived. And so, I think, none will say they
do or can turn Him.
1- Now all we have to do, is to shew what we think of this

We bound itaquCy whether it shall conclude us or no ; and that we shew
to eep it j^ ^y ^^j. pj^actice, for other answer the Apostle will take none.
If we play fast or loose with it on this fashion, as divers do,
upon the matter as good to say. The Holy Ghost cannot tell
how to make an argument; Christ is offered, but no itaque
epulemur for all that. Thus we will not say, for very shame.
What then? will we dispensare contra Apostoluniy which we
blame as a foul abuse in the Pope ? and yet I cannot see, bat I
every mean person takes upon him papal authority in this
case ; and as oft as we list, dispense with the Apostle and his
itaque, exempt ourselves from his conclusion : — that we will not
seem to do. No, it is not at itaque ; the truth is, it is at non
infermento we stick; we love our leaven so well, be it malice
or be it some other leaven as bad, so well we love it, we will
not part with it; we loath the lamb, rather than the leaven
shall out. But in the mean time, there is no trifling with this
conclusion, there is no dispensing with the Apostle ; there is
no wanton wilful disabling ourselves will serve. Itaque will
not be so answered; not, but with epulemur. It layeth a
necessity upon every one, to be a guest at this feast. The
Jews we know were held hard to theirs upon a great pain, to
Ex. 12. 19 have, not their names, but their souls cut off from God's
people. And is it a less trespass for Christians to pass by
this Passover? or hath the Church less band to exact like
care at our hands? No indeed; we must know the Holy
Ghost can tell how to infer, and that this itaque of the
Apostle's is a binding conclusion. To the next point

Of the Resurrection. 303

Absolutely, we are to keep this feast, but not to keep it 2.
^ovis modoy no matter how, prepared, unprepared, in any ho^*fo°"
vgarment, in any sort No ; this non and this sedy not on that ^®®P ^**
•^manner but this, shew plainly every manner will not serve.
What then is the manner ? " Not in old leaven." With the
Passover he began, and he holds him to it still ; that if it be
a Passover, reason would it should be kept like a Passover,
even in the same manner. Now the Passover was not a loose
lawless thing, to hold it in any fashion, it skilled not how.
No; it had his laws. Even that, Hcsc est lex Paschalis, ye
shall read it, Exod. 12. 43, "this is the law of keeping it."

Indeed, divers laws it had in type that concern us in truth ; 1. Non in
among the rest this, for one, in the text. The lamb would -Jl^J^f^tii
not be eaten with every kind of bread, every paste was not f^® *^^^ „
for this feast, not leavened in any wise. Such an antipathy
there was between leaven and it, as it might not, I will not
say come to the board, but not be endured in the house all Ex. 12. 19.
the feast long, though it were neither tasted nor touched. If
it were not thrown out, if any never so little of it remained in
any comer, the law was broken, the feast illegitimate. To
make it up then a perfect Passover, here is another yet,
which I called our Passover duty; the not staying still in our
old leaven, but passing over, as it were, to a new paste, a
necessary condition for the right holding this feast. For
sweet bread was so proper to the Passover, as ye shall find Lu. 22. 7.
they be but two diverse names 'of one and the same thing.

Omnia infiguram iUis\ saith the Apostle, "with them all was iCorJO.ii.
in type.^' What is the spirit of this letter? What meant by ^^^?^
leaven ? The Apostle tells us, the old leaven of Egypt is our
former vicious course of life, soured with the leaven of the old
Adam ; and nova conspersio, is newness of life. The time of
offering the lamb, is the time of casting out this. Meet,
if we would have our sins pass from us, we should pass from
them also, and throw their leaven out.

And well is sin likened to leaven. Leaven will grow noi-
some, if it be kept long ; and sin, if it have lain long in us, or
we in it, turns to a certain sourness, that we ourselves feel
an unpleasant savour or upbraiding of it in our souls. Our
Saviour felt it so, I am sure ; the vinegar He took shewed
the relish of it. By which upbraiding, we find, we need an

304 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. expurgate for it, as it were a corrupt humour in our souk,

^— that needed to be purged out.

Generally, all old leaven whatsoever; namely, two sorts of
it, I . KUKia, and 2. irovrjpia, turned ^^ naughtiness and malice."
The words in their own nature — as they properly signify,
1. one noteth a loose licentious lewdness, lightly ending in
lust ; 2. the other, an unquiet working wickedness, that will
take pains to do a shrewd turn, commonly the effect of malice.
The sins of lust are well set out in old corrupt leaven, for
so they end, mostwhat in corruption and rottenness. The
sin of malice likewise. For, as leaven, it makes men swell one
against another as if they would burst ; and sour are the froits
of it and unpleasant, as any leaven in the world.

These two to be cast out, as those that have a special an-
tipathy with this feast and offering. For no agreement be-
tween a foul life, and the feast of an undefiled Lamb. Nor
no fellowship between sour malice, and the feast of sweet
bread. And these two are specially named, because they
were the faults wherewith the Corinthians specially were
leavened, to whom he writes. Incest, at the first verse, as
we know Corinth heard evil for looseness; — there is nequUia,
And again^ swelling one against another at the second;—
there is malice.

As to rid ourselves of this leaven, so to furnish ourselves, as

8efi, A-c. with new paste, with the two leaven-less virtues, " sincerity and

truth." " Sincerity," that is, cleanness of life, a word thought

to be taken from honey, which is then mel sincerum when it

is sine cerd^ unmingled, ' without wax,' or any baggage in it

El\i/cpiv€uiy the Greek word, is properly of uncounterfeit

wares, such as we may Kpiveiv ev eXXtf, bring forth and shew

them in the sun ; as need not the false light of a close shop

to utter them. But truth that runs through all, flat against

all kind of leaven, if it have any manner leaven, true it is not,

and so out it must.

1. Of leaven in the Gospel, I find three sorts interpreted to

of doc^^^*^ our hands, that we cannot mistake. Christ willed His Disci-

Mat^'ie 6. P'^® ^^ '^ beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,*

12. It is after said, He meant it of their "doctrine," that was full of i

corrupt leaven. 1 . The Pharisees^ of the leaven of superstition i

consisting in phylacteries, phrases, and observances, and little J^

(

Of the Resurrection. 305

else. 2. ** The Sadducees," of a leaven that smelt strong of
profaneness, in their liberty of prophesying, calling in question
Angels, and Spirits, and the Resurrection itself; 3. and a third
leaven Christ names, "the leaven of Herod;" — beware that Marks. is.
too : many times it is the bane of true religion, when God's
truth and worship must be moulded up with Jeroboam's,
and with Herod's ends ; squared to them just as is fittest to
do their turns, that Jeroboam may be safe. No superfluous
caveat; many times, this marreth all. Let all be abandoned ;
Pharisees', Sadducees', Herod's, and the truth take place.

Now as in that place the Pharisees' leaven is " doctrine,'^ 2.

fill- -J l«ii

so in another I find that Christ expounds it "hypocrisy ;"yeiiofi[fe.

and that is merely opposite to truth in meaning, speaking, and ^^ ^'^' ^*

dealing. The Pharisee was a great dealer with this leaven.

He had it on his face, to make him look sour ; men might take

nodoe when they fasted. He had it on his tongue ; — Rabbi, Mat. 6. 16.

O you teach the truth, you respect no man's person ; when

they sought to cut his throat. He had it in his whole course,

all for show, to seem that they were not ; Gabbatha without. Mat. 23. 7.

and Golgotha within. ^^•

But yet even they, though they used it, they taught it not
for a doctrine, nor avowed not the lawful use of it ; that one
might speak the one half without, and the other half within,
as our Pharisees now do. Men, ye shall never have any
sincere truth from them. Search them, they have still a
piece of leaven in their bosom ; speak so, and deal so, as if
they would take the sentence by the end, and turn it clean
against thej Apostle ; to purge out all his sweet bread, all sin-
cerity and truth, and hold their Passover in leaven, or not at
all. Antichrist's goat may be so eaten; the Lamb Christ
cannot. To the Lamb's nature that is sincere, nothing so
contrary as this, to mean, speak, or deal insincerely.

You see a leaven of doctrine and life ; that is, the leaven 3.
of the Gospel. A third there is, the leaven of the Epistle, yen of
and that is of corrupt company ; and that is, in very deed, the ^^^^^
leaven of this text. For when the Apostle would have this i»fe-
leaven here purged, what means he ? To have the incestuous
Corinthian removed, and cast out of the fellowship of the
fidthful, by the censures of the Church. True ; but those
not in every man's power. But this is, to avoid and shun

X

306 Of the Resurrection.

8 £ R IL them and their company : so we may, and so we are bound

— — — to cast them out.

There is very great danger in persons so leavened, great
scandal, even to the well-disposed; but far greater danger
to the most, that will soon take this leaven ; our nature is apt
to take it, it is easily fermented that way. As much good
leaven as will serve three pecks, so much evil will do more
than serve three bushels, and never leave till it have soured
them all. That, except this be looked to, all the rest will be
to small purpose.

In religion. Now, when St. Paul speaks of persons thus leavened, he
means not only such as are lewd of life, tainted that way,
but even such also as are unsound in matter of religion, and
have a sour savour that way. Here to the Corinthians, he
would have the incestuous person cast out, with his leavened

Gal. 5.8, life ; but to the Galatians after, he presseth the same point

Gal. 5. 9. against another kind, such as leavened the Gospel with

^^' Moses' ceremonies, and so corrupted the truth in religion;

and them he would have cut off — both Corinthian and
Galatian leaven, both must out. And mark ; upon the same
reason both, and in the very same words. That a little

Gal. 6. 9. leaven doth not a little hurt, but otherwhile marreth the
whole batch of bread. Evil doctrine is against truth, evil
life against walking in the truth, evil company will bring us
to both. Therefore away with them, but away with this
especially. If they will not purge out their leaven, purge
them out. And that especially, against this feast in the na-
ture whereof there is a contrariety to all leaven.

Now then, this is our conclusion ; come we must, and itaque

celebremus. This is our caution : thus we must come, non in

fermentOy sed azymis. If we say, it skills not whether we come,

itaque meets with us ; if we say, it skills not how we come,

non infermento meets with us too. It is with us here, as with

Hos. 7. 1. the Prophet ; when he would heal one, the other breaketh
forth. If we press non in fermento^ we lose itaque epulemwr,
they come not at all ; no feast If we urge itaque epulemttr,
they come, how? leavened, and unleavened, all clap them
down together. We need a quomodo intrdsti hue ? to keep

Mat22.i2. some back ; and yet we need a compelle intrare, to bring others 'u

Lu. 14. 23. jn. But the manner, but the caution, remember that The il

Of ilue Resurrection, 307

mfidn conclusion is that we come. The other we must not
leave undone, but this peremptorily we are bound to do.

The Apostle binds us to do it; the time to do it, now.
For if this follow — Christ is offered, therefore we are to come
to His feast ; this will follow as strongly, Christ is now offered,
therefore let us now come. Go by degrees: the Christian
Passover, our Passover, a time it must have, sometime it is
to be kept. We would do it at that time, when it were best
for us to do it. When best for us to do it, but at the time He
did it Himself? And that did He, even at this feast, now.
Now then at this feast it is most kindly to do it ; most like to
please Him, and to prosper with us.

And indeed, if at any time we will do it, Quando Pascha
nisi in Paschay * what time is the Passover so proper as at the
feast of the Passover ?' Quando tempus epulandi, nisi quando
tempus immolandiy ^when the time of His receiving as at the
time of His offering ?' Therefore they both, the feast and the
lamb, have one name, to shew the near conjunction that
should be between them. When the day cometh, to remem-
ber what was done on the day, and so what we to do on that
day. Pascha quod celebramus^ to put us in mind of Pascha
quod epulamur. For tell me. Will the sacrifice commemora-
tive, or the Sacrament communicative ever fall more fit, than
when that was offered which we are to commemorate, and to
communicate withal? Is not the fittest time of doing it the
time when it was done? othocfacite then, when hoc factum
est ? So that without any more ado, the season itself pleadeth
for this effectually.

And now is the time of expurgate for our bodies, the
corrupt humours that leaven it, now we cast them out. And
why not now likewise, those that lie sour in our souls ? And
even nature's Passover, the general. Passover is even at this
time, both in Heaven and earth. Above in Heaven, where
the sun having past over all the signs is come about, and
renews his course at the first sign in the Zodiac. And
beneath in earth, firom the sharp time of winter, and ferment-
ing time of the earth, to the renewing sweet time, the time of
the spring, wherein there is nova conspersio in nature itself.
And why should not the Passover of grace be now likewise in
season^ and have due concurrence with nature ?

x2

306 Of the Resurredum.

8 B R IL Sure all agree well, if we but agree ourselves. And if we
'— agree for our parts to do the day's duty, Christ will not be

behind with His, the day's benefit ; but during our time and
in the hour of death, be our true Passover ; shielding us from
all deadly mishaps while we here live, and giving us a sure and
safe passage at our end, even a passage to the last and great
Passover of all ; the truth of that whereof theirs was the
shadow, and ours the image now. For we have not yet done
with our Lamb, nor the work of this Passover is not yet My
accomplished.

There is a farther matter yet behind; for as this feast
looketh back as a memorial of that is already past and done
for us, so doth it forward, and is to us a pledge of another
Beva9.7.9. and a better yet to come, the feast of the marriage of the
Lamb here That is our Passover, where whosoever shall be
a guest, the Angels pronounce him happy and blessed fcr

«

ever.

That is the last and great feast indeed, when all destroyen
and all destructions snail cease and come to an end for eve^
Mat25.2i. more, and we hear that joyM voice, Transi in ffaudhm
Domini, " Pass over into the joy of the Lord," the joys of
Heaven, joys not mingled with any sour leaven as this world's
joy is, but pure and entire ; nor transient as that of this
world, and ever flitting and forsaking us then soonest when
we think we have best hold of them, but permanent and
abiding still. A Passover that will be never passed over, but
last and continue a feast to all eternity. Of that, this here is
a pledge, if we neglect it not as if it were not worth the
taking. And He That at this time gave us this pledge, in His
good time also bring us to the Passover whereof this is the
pledge, even to the never-passing but everlasting joys and
happiness, of His Heavenly kingdom, through the offering
of His blessed Son the very Paschal Lamb I To Whom
with, &c.

9

L.

A SERMON

PBKACBKD BKrOR>

THE KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL,

ON THB EIGHTEENTH OF APBIL, A.D. MDGXIII., BEING EASTEB-DAY.

CoLOSSiANS iii. 1, 2.

Hfye then he risen with Christy seek those things which are ahove^
where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.

Set your affections^ or minds, on things which are above ; and
not on things which are on the earth.

Jgitur^ si con-surrexistis cum Chrisio, qtuB sursum sunt qucsrite, ubi

ChrisHis est in dewtera Dei sedens.
Qiue sursum sunt sapite, nan qua super terram,

{If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,

where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God,
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, Engl.

Trans.]

The wisdom of the Church hath so disposed of her read-
ings- in these great feasts, as lightly the Gospel lets us know
what was done on the day, done for us, and the Epistle what
is to be done by us. To instance in this present : Surrexit
Dondnus vere, " The Lord is risen indeed," saith the Gospel.
& Q^o con-surrexistis et vos^ " and you are risen with Him,'*
saith the Epistle.

2. That which is in the Gospel is Christ's act, what He
did j that which in the Epistle our agendum, what we to do.

3. Or rather both ours; 1. what He did, matter of faith;
2. what we to do, matter of duty, our agendum upon His act.

The common sort look to Easter-day no farther than
tiaster-day fare, and Easter-day apparel ; and other use they

310 Ofihe Resurrection.

S £ R M. have none of it The true Christian enquireth farther, what
^" • is the agendum of the feast, what is the proper act of Easter-
day ? The Church hath hers, and we have ours. Nothing
more proper to a Christian than to keep time with Christ, to
rise with Him this day. Who this day did rise. That so it
may be Easter-day with us as it was with Him j the same
that was the day of His, be also the day of our rising.

The sum. Thus then it lieth. Christ is risen, and if Christ, then we.
If we so be, then we *^ seek ;" and that we cannot, unless we
"set our minds." To "set our minds" then. On what?
" On things above." Which above ? Not " on earth," so is
the text, but " where Christ is." And why there ? Because,
where He is, there are the things we seek for, and here can-
not find. There " He is sitting ;^' — so at rest. And " at the
right hand ;" — so in glory. " God's right hand ;" — and so for
ever. These we seek, rest in eternal glory. These Christ
hath found, and so shall we, if we make this our agendum;
begin this day to " set our minds" to search after them.

Because it is to the Colossians, the colossus or capital
point of all is, to rise with Christ; that is the main point.
And if you would do a right Easter-day's work, do that. It is
the way to entitle us to the true holding of the feast. That
so we may, these two opera Paschalia are commended to us.
"Things above," 1. to make them our search, 2. to fix our
minds on them. These two we read, qu(Brite^ sapite, in the
imperative; we may in the indicative as well; ^ijreiTe is
quceritis^ as well as qucerite, and <f>poveiTe sapitis, as well as
sapite. If ye read them imperative^ thus : This ye are to do,
" to seek," " to set your minds ;" then be they in prcRcepto
and per modum officii^ ' by way of precept,' and ' in nature of a
duty.' If you read them indicative, thus : " If you be risen,
then you do seek, and set your minds;" then they be in
elencho, and per modum signi, * by way of trial,' and * in nature
of a sign.' Both well, and a good use of both.

Tiie di- The parts lie thus. Two things are supposed, two other

inferred, and a third two we are referred to, or given hope of.

1. 1. 2. The two supposed these ; 1. Christ is risen, and 2. we with

Christ : " If ye be risen with Christ." The two inferred

II. 3. 4. these ; "if risen," then 1. " to seek ;" 2. then " to set our minds

above, on things there, where Christ is." The two hjB refer-

vision.

I

Of the Resurrection. 311

rcth to, or giveth hope of, rest with Him in gloiy. 1. Rest, in. 5.
to sit ; 2. Glory, at the right hand. And God maketh up 6.
all the perfect number of seven, for eternal is the rest, and 7.
eternal the glory, that is at His right hand.

These we heard of at His birth, in the Epistle then. This Heb. l. 7,
we hear of again at His rising, or second birth, from the [Epist. for
grave, in the Epistle now. This we shall hear of again at J^*°***
His Ascension too. This is remembered in all as the fruit oiAfiXAiAM^
all, at every feast set before us as our hope and all we seek, Epist. As-
to sit with Christ, at the right hand of God. dly!]"""

" If ye be risen." This seemeth primd facie to be but I-

. . . . . The two

a single supposition, but being well looked into, resolves into aupposi-
two risings, 1. Christ's, and 2. ours; 1. He, and 2. we with **°°^j
Him. Of which the first, Christ's, doth immutabiliter suppo- Christ's
nere. His needs no if It is not if Christ be, but if we with
Christ. For Christ is certainly. Three hundred years; the
world opposed it; thirteen hundred, ever since, the world
hath supposed it. And so let us, and so pass to our own,
and begin every year to lay our grounds anew ; every Easter,
to be teaching our rudiments over again.

There is an *'if'' that supposeth but mobiliter^ may be or
not be thereafter as we seek, and our minds be set. But yet,
if ye mark it, is not His supposed by itself, and ours inferred
upon His, but ours supposed likewise ; His and ours both
supposed under one, under one and the same if And as
they are close linked, that one supposition serveth for them,
so are they woven together, that one preposition {aiw)
holdeth them, under one si, and one avv both. The Apostle
hath framed a new word here, for the purpose, consurrexistis.
The resurrection we have heard of, the con-surrection we are
now to hear and take notice of.

To set our suppose right, I ask two questions; 1. the one 2.
of these "if you;" 2. the other of these, "if you be risen." i^l^rwsf*
Si vos, "if you." Why, doth the Resurrection pertain but"^^^^^*'*
to some certain vos ? Is it not si omnes 9 concerns it not all ?
As Christ died, so is He risen for all ; and shall not all rise
with Him ? What do we then do with si vos ? Yes, all rise
with Him out of their graves, but not all rise to the right
hand after-mentioned. A great part rise to stand on the
left, not to sit on the right hand of God. With that the

812 Of the Buurredion.

SERM. ApoBtle here dealeth. The resurrection reacheth to all;

'- — this resurrection to such only as seek, and set their mindSi

2. 8i com- The other, " be risen," the tense, is that right ? For ever,
Hi, «<if yoa when we hear of the Resurrection, we are carried straight to
-» naen. ^^^ ^f ^j^^ j^^ g.^^ their graves at the latter day. We

conceive: Well, if He be risen we shall rise, shall in the
future tense. But, here is news of another in the preter
tense, for so it is, ^' be risen,'* not shall rise ; be already, not
shall hereafter. It cannot be taken of that which is to come;
it should then be, si consurgetis. But needs of one present
or past, it is si consurrexistis.

2rim.2.i8. How then? Fall we in with them qui dicunt resurrec-
tionem jam esse factaniy " that say the resurrection is already
past?" Nor that neither. We are no Sadducees, nor we
are not of Hymenaeus* sect neither. But this we believe: as
there is one to come of the body at the last and great resur-

1 Cor. 16. rection, which he treats of to the Corinthians, so is there also

P^'^' one which we are to pass here, of the mind's, which here he
commendeth to the Colossians.

And these two lead us directly to the two resurrections,
which St. John after doth more expressly deliver, under the

Rev. 20. 6. terms of " first" and ^' second." And this withal, that all the

good or evil of that of the Corinthians, doth depend much

upon the well or evil passing of this of the Colossians.

This we are to look after, to rise before, a resurrection

now in being. This of ours imports us, we see, no less than

[1 Cor. 15. Christ's own, which I wish well laid up in mind, since both
20 n

are under one " if,'' supposed alike, one no less than the other.

" Christ is risen" is not enough, nay is nothing at all, if that

be all, if He be risen without us. He risen, and we lie still ;

if with this day's resurrection on His part there be not also a

con-surrection on ours.

Now then we are to look to our if, that it supposeth
Cant. 1. 3. aright. And if He be risen, to cry to Him Trahe nos post Te,

" to draw us with Him," and not leave us still in our graves
Joh.12.32. of sin. He said of Himself, that ^^ if once He were exalted,

He would" make His magnetical virtue to appear, and

" draw all to Him." « All," but not all at once, but, as the
iCor.15.23. Apostle saith, "each in his order." And that order is to

begin with the soul first, and draw it. For the soul being, as

Of the Resurrection, 313

the very philosophers have acknowledged — it is Aristotle's own roonf.
word, avmOev 'from above,' will the more easily be drawn to 10.7.]
tA av(o " things above." It is kindly, it is con-natural for it,
to draw thitherward. And then after, in the second place,
together with itself, to elevate and lift up the flesh thither
with it For, as well observeth Chrysostom, these two were
not thus joined, the spirit and the flesh I mean, that the
flesli should pull down the spirit to earth, but that the spirit
should exalt the flesh to Heaven. And this subliming or
lifting up the spirit, is the rising with Christ here in the
text. The other in his time and turn to follow. But if this
go not before, the other will not come after, take that for
certain. This then to endeavour, and this day to set in hand
with it. For this is the main point, that we find ourselves
risen with Christ; find it, or procure it; find it already, or
procure it as soon as may be.

Now thus we shall know if we be risen, and thus procure ii.
it if we be not ; " if we seek, if we set our minds on things double
above,'' which is the double inference upon the former double ^|P^^
suppose, which I divide into the 1. act, and the 2. object, "seek."
The !• act, qucsrere and sapere; the 2. object, qucs sursum, "set our

Of the two acts, one referreth to action; seeking, is a&c?«on
matter of endeavour. The other to the aflection ; set yom: ^^^t*
affection or mind, it is both. There be two works arguing the
spirit; 1. motion, and 2. sense. Motion, in the one, seeking :
Sense, in the other, so is it turned, Phil. 2. 5. Idem sentitey Phil. 2. 5.
'4et the same mind be in you." There is motus Icesiis in
them that seek not ; and sensus Icbsus, in them that savour not.
To these two reduce all : 1. Qiuerenda sapere, and 2. Sapienda
puerere; 'to mind what we are to seek,' and to 'seek what
We mind.' Of these two 1. jointly first; 2. then severally;
and 8. last of their order.

Jointly; for disjoined they may not be. One is little 1.
worth without the other. There be that seek, and be very two acts
busy in it, and yet savour not the things that are of God. J?s^eJ,"
So sought a great Apostle once, and our Saviour did not*"^"^'
let to tell him of it; oif <f>pop€l<i, the very word here, "thou minds."
savourest not" Men that are possessed with false principles. Mat 16.28.
and yet fall a seeking; zealous in their way, but want true
knowledge to fix their minds aright Now "without know- Proy.i9.2.

314 Of the Seiurrectian.

S E R ikL ledge/' saith Solomon truly, '^ the mind is not good ;" and we

'— know^ mala mens mains animus^ * the mind misled will set the

affections awry straight.'

Will ye see them in kind ? Look but to the end of the
last chapter before. There they seek so, as they will neither
taste, handle, nor touch. So seek as down they go to wor-
Coi. 2. 21. ship, not only God, but the Angels too. So seek, as ^' spare
not their own bodies," and yet wrong all the while ; and yet
with all their seeking^ not ^' risen with Christ" for all that
Why ? For qutsrunty non sapiunt

On the other side, there be that sapiunt^ non qtuerunt, that
Phil. 2. 21. sapiunt qu(B Ckristi, qucsrunt qu(B sua, ' savour Christ, but
seek themselves.' Of whom the Apostle, they have know-
ledge competent, but without so much as a spark of true
endeavour. Pariter intelligunt nobiscum, saith Augustine,
pariter non diligunt; 'understand well enough, but coldly
affected ;' so, sit still and seek not.

So that both would be kept together, qucerite, and sapite

both. For as in the body natural it fareth between the

stomach and the head — a rheumatic head spoils the stomach

with distillations, and a distempered stomach fills the head

with raw vapours, and soon mars the other, so it is here.

Our mind mistaking misleads the affection, and a wrong set

affection puts the mind out of frame. That in sunder they

would not be, but joined ever. Sapere without qucsrere will not

rise, but lie still ; and qucBrere without sapere will rise, but

lead you astray.

2. The Now severally. If we be risen to move and to seek, that

raiiy!^^^" 5s, to resolve that, with sitting still without seeking, what we

1. " Seek." g^j.g jjgj.g ^iUed to seek will not be had. We shall not stumble

on it, or hit upon it unawares ; there needs a seeking. If our
Mat. 7. 14 Saviour knew the way well, it is hard to hit, " and few there
be that find it.^' The short \ there goeth search and enquiry
to it, pains and diligence are requisite; we shall not come
thither with the turning of a gin. It were great folly, when
we see daily things here beneath without travail will not be
come by, once to think things above will drop into our laps
without any seeking.

To seek then, but to do it to purpose, for that which we |
call seeking is nothing less. Those, to whom the Prophet

Of tlie Resurrection, 315

Esay said, si qucsritis, qucerite, " if ye will seek, why then Isa. 21. 12.
seek,'' do it in earnest ; it seems they sought so slightly, so
slenderly, as it deserved not the name of seeking. Pilate
asked. Quid est Veritas? and then some other matter took him Joh.i8.88.
in the head, and so up he rose and went his way, before he
had his answer; he deserved never to find what truth was.
And such is our seeking mostwhat, seldom or never seriously,
but some question that comes cross our brain for the present,
some quid est Veritas f so sought as if that we sought were as
good lost as found. Yet this we would fain have go for
seeking, but it will not be. O si quceritis quterite, saith Esay, Isa. 21. 12.
— look the place, " The morning comes, so doth the night,"
that is, our days spend apace, and we say we will seek. If we
will, let us once do it indeed ; seek it as they did this day,
follow it hard, make it our race with the one, our morning- Joii. 20. 4.
work with the other.

But we shall never seek as we should unless we put to the 2.
other word, set our minds on them. For will a man ever ninds."
kindly seek that he hath no mind to ? Never. The mind is
all. Be it what it will, or whence it will, above or beneath, if
we affect it not, we shall seek but faintly. That we may seek
things above as it is meet, we must prize them, prize them as
"a silver mine," saith Solomon, as "a treasure hid in a field," Prov.3.i4.
saith oru: Saviour, and go "sell all" to compass them. Then Mat. 13.44.
shall we seek to some purpose.

But in the word <f>pov€lv there is more. There is, I told
you, idein sentite^ the sense — he that seeks, should have as
well eyes to discern, as feet to go about it ; it is no business
for a blind man, no more than for a lame, to seek — and that
is knowledge, which would be had too. To seek we know
not what, is but to err, and never find that we seek for. To
qu(Brere then, but sapere^ * to be wise^ in our seeking, to get
us true directions ; else for all our seeking we may be to seek
still.

Which ^povelv is a word the Apostle much useth, as being
very significant, full and forcible. Four things are in it:
1. To set the mind, the mind not the fancy; not to take up
a fancy and fall to seeking as we see many now-a-days, no
ground in the world but their own conceits. Yet seek they
will needs, and have all the world follow them, and have

316 Of the Resurrection.

SERM. nothing to follow themselves but their own folly* So as,

— being veiy idiots, they take themselves for the only men ; and

till they come into it, never was wise man in the world that
knew what to seek, or how.

2. It is then an act of the understanding, ^povelv, but not
of it alone, for then voelv were enough. Yet the greatest
part make no matter of it, but even noema. It is, as to set
our mind, not our fancy, so our mind, not only to know it,
but to mind it. It is senttre^ and sapere; and it is best seen
in sapite^ which is not only to distinguish tastes, but in and
with the taste to feel some delight, to have a sense of the
sweetness withal, which will make us seek it again plus
magis ; and without it our seeking will be but unsavoury.

8. So to savour it, as we hold qucsrere to be sapere; that to
seek is our wisdom, that we do not recte sapere^ unless we do
l>eu. 4. 6. hoc sapere, Hcbc erit sapientia vestra, saith Moses, ** this shall
be your wisdom," before God and man, and you so to reckon
of it ; even this, to seek things above, and to think when ye
are about that business, ye are about a point of high wisdom,
and that to perform it well, is the wisest action of our life.

4. To hold it our wisdom ; and last, I ask what wisdom?
Not that which doth contemplate, that is aof^ia^ but the active
wisdom, for that is <f>p6vr)(n^, rerum agendarum. To shew
that not only our grounds for judgment, but our rules for
action, are to be set thence. Thither to get us, thence to
derive our reasons, why we do things, or leave them undone.
Thus to cast with ourselves. This that now I am about. He
That sitteth on high at God's right hand, what will He say or
think of it ? May I offer it to Him ? WiU He allow of it ?
Will He help me forward with it? Will He in the end
Phii.3. 20. reward me for it? Yea, even our TroXtVev/ui, as to the
Philippians, is to be from thence, even the wisdom that
swayeth there to be from above, de sursum. If it be not,
Jas. 3. 15. St. James is somewhat homely with it
3. The By this time we know what it is to " seek,'' and what to "set

Q^^e, ^"^ minds." But in the marshalling these there is somewhat,
First. that qvxBrite is called on first 1. To teach us that it is the
Mat. 6. 33. first thing we are to have care of; Christ's primum qucerite
makes qucsrite to be primum^ to stand first. That we then do
it the honour to make it our first act, our rising with Him

Of the Resurrection, 317

at this feast, the rising of the year ; and on this feast, in the
morning, the rising of the day. For then He rose.

2. It is first called on, because, to say truth, there is more 2.
need of diligence in this business, than aught else. Always
we have more ado to quicken the affection, than to inform the
judgment. And that did they this day know, who sought
before they had light, " while it was yet dark." So much did
they know diligence to import in this business. The greatest
defect is in that point, therefore it needs first to be urged.
For though we see, yet we sit still and seek not.

And now to the object. Of seeking we shall soon agree ; HI
Generatio qucBrentium we are all, saith the Psalm, even " a referred
generation of searchers." Somewhat we are searching after JSject*^^
still. Our wants or our wanton desires find us seeking work ^ '^"

c> gum,

enough, all our lives long. What then shall we seek, or Pa. 24. 6.
where ?

He, saith the Apostle, that will thus bestow his pains, let it
be where? "Above." On what? "The things there," ^'w^b
sursum^ he repeats in both, tells it us twice over; 1. Qu(B
sursum qucBrite, quce sursum sapite. '^ Above" it must be.

And of this also we shall not vary with Him, but be easily
enough entreated to it We yield presently, in our sense, to
seek to be above others in favour, honour, place and power,
and what not ? We keep the text fully in this sense, we both
seek, and set our whole minds upon this. Altum sapimtis
mines ; all would be above, "bramble" and all, and nothing Judg.9.ir>.
is too high for us.

It is true here, for on earth there is a sursum^ " above ;^*
there be high places, we would not have them taken away, we
would offer in them, and offer for them too, for a need. And
there is a right hand here too, and some sit at it, and almost
none but thinks so well of himself as why not he ? Our
Saviour Christ, when it was fancied that He should have
been a great king upon earth, there was suing straight for
His right-hand place. Not so much as good-wise " Zebedee's Mat20.2i.
two sons" that smelt of the fisherboat, but means was made
for them to sit there.

But all this while we are wide. For where is all this?
Here upofn earth. All our above is above one another here,
and is ambitious above, and farther it monnteth not. But

318 Of the Resurrection,

s E R M. this is not the Apostle's, not the " above," nor " the right hand"

'— he meaneth. No : not Christ's right hand upon earth, but that

right hand He sits at Himself in Heaven. The Apostle saw
clearly we would err this error: therefore, to take away as
he goes all mistaking, he explains his ^^ above" two ways.
2. Privative : non quce supra terrain^ hear you, '* not upon
earth ;" His " above" is not here upon earth. This is where
not. 2. Then positive : to clear it from all doubt where, he
points us to the place itself, " above," there " above" where
Christ is, that is, ** not on earth." Earth is the place whence

Lu. 24. 6. He is risen. The Angels tell us, non est hie : seek Him not
here now, but in the place whither He is gone, there seek
Him in Heaven. Heaven is a great circle ; where, in Heaven?
In the chiefest place, there where God sits, and Christ at His
right hand.

So that upon the matter, the fault he finds, the fault of our
" above" is, it is not above enough, it is too low, it is not so
high as it should be. It should be higher, above the hills ;
higher yet, above the clouds ; higher yet, higher than our eye
can carry, above the Heavens. There now, we are right.
1. And indeed the very frame of our bodies, as the heathen

i^Snl^^" P^®^ ^^^^ observed, giveth thither upward: coelumque tueri

[Ovid. jussit, and bids us look thither. And that way should our

85-6.] ' soul make ; it came from thence, and thither should it draw
again, and we do but bow and crook our souls, and make

[Pere. Sat them curvcB in terris animcBy against their nature, when we
'^ hang yokes on them, and set them to seek nothing but here
below.
2. And if nature would have us no moles, grace would have

Lu. 17.37. us eagles, to mount "where the body is." And the Apostle
goeth about to breed in us a holy ambition, telling us we are
ad altiora ffeniti, 'bom for higher matters' than any here;
therefore not to be so base minded as to admire them, but to
seek after things above. For contrary to the philosopher's
sentence, Qu(B supra nos nihil ad nos, 'Things above they
concern us not,' he reverses that; yes, and we so to hold, ea
maxime ad nos, ' they chiefly concern us.'
8. Come to the last now. And why this place above ? I shall
tell you : for there is Christ, and Him we seek to-day if it be
£aster-day with us ; and if we seek where He is. He is above

Of the Resurrection. 319

certainly. But he Implieth a farther reason yet, because in
very deed there with Him are the things which we of all
other seek for, and when all is done, all our seeking is to
them referred as to the end. We would not ever travail, but
after our laborious toiling course here find a place of rest, and
this we seek. But not this alone, but a seat of glory withal.
Sit we would, but in some eminent place ; not at the left
foot but at the right hand, in light and honour as much as
might be.

We seek rest ; specially, they that are tossed in a tempest. What "the
how do they desire a good haven, a harbour of rest ! and sure ab^?*are.
here we " dwell in Mesech," meet with much disquietness. 5^^%^ -
None but sometime hath sense of the verse in the Psalm : *
" Oh that I had wings like a dove ! then would I fly and be Ps. 55. 6.
at rest." And the more our incolatus is prolonged, the more
we seek it, find it how we may.

And it is not the body^s trouble so much, but invenietis Mat. 11.29.
requiem animabusj to find rest to our souls ; — that is it. And
the soul is fi'om above, and but in her own place never finds
it "Turn thee to thy rest O my soul ;" — that is worth all. Ps. ii6. 7.
But both are best, and not after all our turmoils here in this ^^' ^^'
world to hear, non introihunt in requiem meam in another
world, but to be cast into that place where there is no rest day
nor night; but enter into His rest, which in the Epistle to the Heb. 3. u.
Hebrews he so much beats upon. '

And verily if we seek rest, glory we seek much more. For
for it we are content to deprive ourselves of all rest, which l. Glory.
otherwise we love well enough. And a restless course we
enter into, and hold out in it all our life long, and all to win
it, though it be but a little before our death. For no rest
will satisfy or give us full content, unless it be on the right
hand.

These two then we seek for : where are they to be found ?
Not in qu(B supra terram ; not here therefore, but folly to seek
them here. We are by all means to avoid their error, that
sought this day to " seek the living among the dead,'^ a thing Lu. 24. 6.
where it is not to be had.

Never seek to set up our rest here, in this tumultuous
troublesome place, " this vale of Achor" right, as Osee ; this Hos. 2. 16.
rpoxo^f as St. James, a " wheel" ever whirling about, qucerens ^^^^'^^

320 Of the Resurrection.

8 E R M. requiem et nan invenit earn. Wbere we shall soon be diseased

'■— with a surgite postquam sederitis, 'after we sit a little^ quickly

Mic. 2. 10. disquieted again.' The Prophet Micah tells us plain, rum
habetis hie requiem^ ''here we cannot have it, this is not
our rest."

Nor never seek for true glory here : why ? Locus estpuU-
cum et culicum, ' It is the place of fleas and of gnats this/ In
the garden, the place of our delight, we meet with worms;
and there be spiders even in the King's palace. This place
of worms and spiders, call ye this the place of glory in dust
and cobwebs ?

Say it be, yet such is the nature of these two such as they

be, the rest and the glory here, as they divide it still; have

ye one, ye must quit the other. They that are in glory have

not the quietest life ; and they that are most at rest, farthest

off from being glorious. Rest is here a thing inglorioti^

Gen.49.14. and glory a thing restless. Thus it stands with us : Issachar's

condition like some ; rest is good though it be between a

pair of panniers. If that like us, we must live in this estate,

the most obscure of all the tribes. But if we will have a

name among the great ones of the earth, if be glorious, then

farewell rest ; we must take our lot among them that live

not most at ease certainly. For here they meet not, but

are in sunder still.

7. "At the But say yet we could make them meet, be at all ease and

ofGod."^ in all glory together ; seated, and seated " at the right hand"

both. Now come we to weigh the word Dei. The right hand

here, super terram, is not the right hand of God, but of a man,

which shall wither, and within a certain of years, as the

Job 81. 22. Prophet's term is, " fall from the shoulder.*^ And so this rest,

and this right hand, we can have no hold of either. It is

Acts24.27. said in the Acts, after two years Felix went his way, and

another came governor in his place. And then the places

were changed — some were diseased; and so is the case of all

felicity here.

Upon the point then. Rest and glory we seek not barely,
but we seek them so as they may endure ; and our wish is,
if it might be, even for ever. And this may be had, but it
will be had at no right hand but ad dexteram Deiy God^s only.
Then seek them there. Not here, where either we shall

Of the Resurrection. 321

seek and not find them, or find one firom the other; or if
both together, yet have no hold of them, but soon lose them
again. Seek where we may, nay, where we shall be sure to
find them, where both will be had; and both together,
and good assurance of both, even to eternity, as at God's
right hand, a right hand that withereth not If ye seek
rest, let it be in His **holy hill;" if glory, gloria in excelsisy Ps. 15. i.
where Christ is already ; set, so at rest ; at the right hand,
so in glory ; at God's right hand, and so, in both for even
There they be, there "seek," there "set your minds."

To withdraw ourselves, to sequester our minds firom things,
here below, to think of Him, and of the place where now He
is, and the things that will bring us thither.

It is a prerogative that a Christian hath, to make it Easter The appii-
any day in the year, by doing these duties on it They the time.
come no day amiss. But no day so fit as this day, the very
day of His rising. Then of very congnrity, we to rise also.
For no reason in the world, if He rise, that we should lie still.
N'or is it good for us that He should rise without us, and
leave us behind in the grave of our sins still. But when He,
then we too.

Rising is not so proper to the day, but the two signs
or two duties, call them which ye will, are as proper. For
this day was, indeed, a day of seeking. "I know Whom you Marki6.6.
seek, ye seek Jesus That was crucified," saith one Angel;
" Why seek ye the living among the dead ?" saith another. Lu. 24. 6.
To rise when He rose, to seek Him when He was sought.
This day He was sought by men, sought by women. Women,
the three Maries; men, the two Apostles. The women at
charges, the Apostles at pains. Early by the one, earnestly
by the other. So there was seeking of all hands.

And they which sought not went to Emmaus, yet they set Lu. 24. laf.
their minds on Him, had Him in mind, were talking of Him
by the way. So that these do very fitly come into the
agendum of this day ; thus to seek and set our minds. At
least not to lose Him quite, that day we should seek Him,
nor have our minds farthest from Him that day they should
be most upon Him.

The Church by her office, or agendum^ doth her part to To the Sa-
help us herein, all she may. The things we are willed to

322 Of the Besurrectian,

s R R M. seek she sets before us, the blessed mysteries. For these are

VIII.

from above ; the " Bread that came down from Heaven/' the

lieb, 0. 12. Blood that hath been carried '^mto the holy place.'' And I add,
ubi Christus ; for ubi CarpuSy ubi sanguis Christie ibi Christus,
I am sure. And truly here^ if there be an ubi Christus, there
it is. On earth we are never so near Him, nor He us^ as then
and there. There in efficacid, and when all is done^ efficacy,
that is it must do us good, must raise us here, and raise us at
the last day to the right hand ; and the local ubi without it of
no value.

Lii. 24.80. He was found in the "breaking of bread:" that bread she
breaketh, that there we may find Him. He was found by
them that had their minds on Him : to that end she will call
to us, Sursum corda, ' Lift up your hearts ;' which, when we
hear, it is but this text iterated, *' Set your minds," have your
hearts where Christ is. We answer, ' We lift them up ;' and
so I trust we do, but I fear we let them fall too soon again.

Therefore, as before so after, when we hear, * Thou That
sittest at the right hand of the Father;' and when again,
" Glory to God on high," all is but to have this. But espe-

iieb. 6. 4. cially, where we may sentire and sapere queBsursum, andffUsUwe
donum cceleste, * taste of the heavenly gift,' as in another place he
speaketh; see in the breaking, and taste in the receiving,
how gracious He was and is; was in suffering for us, is in

[iPet.1.3.] rising again for us too, and regenerating us thereby " to a lively
hope." And gracious in offering to us the means, by His
mysteries and grace with them, as will raise us also and set
our minds, where true rest and glory are to be seen.

That so at this last and great Easter of all, the Resurrec-
tion-day, what we now seek we may then find ; where we now
set our minds, our bodies may then be set ; what we now but
taste, we may then have the full fi'uition of, even of His
glorious Godhead, in rest and glory, joy and bliss, never to
have an end.

A SERMON

PREACHED BBrORB

THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE TWEMTT-FOUBTH OF APRIL, A.D. MDCXIV., BEING EA8TKB-DAY.

Philippians ii. 8 — 11.

He humbled Himself^ made obedient unto deaths even the death

of the Cross,
For this cause hath God also highly exalted Him ; and given

Him a Name above every name.
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in

Heaven, and in earth, and under the earth.
And that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is the

Lord, to the glory of God the Father,

[Humiliavit Semetipsum, foetus [obediens usque ad mortem, mortem

autem crucis.
Propter quod et Deus exaltavit Ilium, et donavit Illi nomen, quod est

super omne nomen :
Ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur calestium, terrestrium^ et

infemorum,
Et omnis lingua confiteatur quia Dominus Jesus Christus in gloria

est Dei Patris, Latin Vulg.]

[And being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and

became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a

Name which is above every name :
That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in

Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to

the glory qf God the Father. Engl. Trans.]

" For this cause God hath exalted Him," saith the text ; The sum.
" Him," that is, Christ. And " for this cause" are we now
here, to celebrate this exalting. Of which His exalting this

y2

324 Of tlie Resurrection.

S E R M. is the first day, and the act of this day the first step of it;

even Ills rising again from the dead. Hcbc est clarificatio

[>>.Au^8t. Domini nostri Jesu Christie qtUB ab Ejus resurrectione sumpsit
Joanri. ° exordium, saith St Augustine upon this place ; ^ this now is
104. 8.] ^|jg glorifying of our Lord Jesus Christ, which took His

beginning at His glorious resurrection.'

This is the sum and substance of this text set down by that

learned Father.
The divi- By him also is it likewise divided to our hands ; into h»-
'^^^l, militas claritatis meritum, and claritas humUitatis prijmiwn,

* Humility, the merit of glory/ in the first verse of the four;

and glory, the reward of humility, in the other three. Which

two, here and ever, are so fast linked together as there is no

parting them. I cannot but touch, and I will but touch, the

merit in the first verse — it properly pertains to another day;

and so come to opus diei,
II. The matter of this day's exaltation is called here. His

exaltation.

And is of two sorts. By God, in the ninth verse ; and bj

us, in the two last.

1. By God; and that is double: of His Person; of His
Name. Two supers, either, one. Super-^xaltavit Ipsum, His
Person ; there is one in the forepart of the ninth verse. And
Nomen super omne nomen, His Name ; there is the other in
the latter part of it. And this is God's.

2. Then cometh ours. For God exalting it Himself, He will
have us to do the like. And not to do it inwardly alone, but
even outwardly to acknowledge it for such ; and sets down
precisely this acknowledgment, how He will have it made by

1. 2. us. Namely, two ways ; by the knee, by the tongue. The
Phii.2.10, "knee,'' to "bow" to it; the "tongue" to "confess" it. And
^^' both these to be general ; "every knee," "every tongue." And

not in gross, but deduced into three several ranks: all in
" Heaven," all in " earth," all "under the earth ;" which com-
3. 4. prebends all indeed, and leaves none out. This acknowledg-
ment, thus, but only, insinuated by the knee, is by the tongue
more plainly expressed ; and this is it, that Jesus Christ is the
Lord, Lord of all those three. This to be done, and so done,
as it redound all " to the glory of God the Father."

But then last, take the use with us ; that since in Him His

Of the Resurrection. 325

f

humiliavit Seipsum ends in super^xaltavit Deus, His humbling

Himself in God's exalting, that " the same mind" be in us, PiiH. 2. 5.

and the same end shall come to us. As His end was, so ours

shall be, " the glory of God the Father."
Propter quod, " for this cause." We touch first upon this.l.

word. It is the axis and cardo, the very point whereupon

the whole text turneth.
First, propter ; a cause there is. So God exalts ever, for i.

a cause. Here on earth, otherwhile, there is an exaUavit *^^'

without a propter quod, Some^ as Shebna, Haman, Sanballat, ^J^*}^'
Sometimes exalted, no man knows wherefore. With God Neh. 4. i.
there goeth ever, with men there should go, a propter quod
before exaltavit.

For a cause. For what? "for this cause." And this now 2.
casts us back to the former verse where it is set down, humi' quod,
liavit; there it is for His humility.

Now of all causes, not for that, if we go by this world, HumUi-
which, as the proverb is, was made for the presumptuous.
Not for that virtue of all others. A virtue, before Christ thus
graced it, so out of request as the philosophers — look into their
Ethics, you shall not so much as find the name of humiUty in the
list of all their virtues. Well, this cast virtue of no reckoning
is here made the propter quod of Christ's exalting, as respexit Lu. i. 48.
kumilitatem the ground of His Mother's magnificat. And He
That by Him, " brought light out of darkness" at the first, will 2 Cor. 4. 6.
by Him bring glory out of humility at last, or this book
deceiveth us. With God, it shall have the place of a propter
quody how poor account soever we make of it here.

But this quod is a collective ; there be in it more points i. ipse,
than one. I will but point at them.

Humiliavit Ipscy " He humbled." " He," which many times
is idle, but here a circumstance of great weight. " He," so
great a person, " being in the form of God, and without any Phil. 2. 6.
disparagement at all, equal to God,'^ as he tells us a verse
before, " He humbled." Uhi Majestatem prcemisit, ut humili-
tatem illustraret; * That discourse of His High Majesty was
but to set out, to give a lustre to His humility.' For, for
one of mean estate to be humble, is no great praise, it were a
fault if he were not. But in alto nihil altum sapere : for a
king, as David, to say, "I will yet be more humble ;" for the 2Sum.(>.22

326 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. King of kings, for Him, to shew this great humility, that is a

propter quod indeed. HumUiavit Ipse*

2. 8e, Then secondly, that humiUavit Ipse Se. Ipse Se, and not

alius Ipsumy that He was not brought to it by any other, but
of His own accord, *' He humbled Himself." There is a
difference between humilis and humiliatus. One may be
humbled, and yet not humble. Pharaoh was humbled,

Ex. 10. 16. brought down, by his ten plagues. Simon of Cyrene, anga-

Mat27.82. riatuSy to humble his neck under the cross. This was aim
ipsos. But Ipse Se, is the true humility. For then it is lauda-
bili voluntate, not miserabili necessitate ; * of a willing mind, and
that is commendable, not of force and constraint, for that is
miserable.' ** For this cause," that " He humbled Himself.'*

8. Obe- And thirdly, humiliavit Ipse Se obediens. It was not

^jg 5 Absalom's humility, in show and compliment, and his heart
full of pride, disobedience, yea rebellion. And yet it is a
glory for humility, that even proud men take a pride to shroud
themselves in her mantle, that pride wears humility's hverj.
But it is not humble courtesy, but humble obedience, that is
the propter quod. Till it come to that, many bear themselves
in terms and show low ad humum, even touch the ground.
But come once thither, to obedience ; then give laws they
must, but obey none ; make others obedient, and ye will, but
not factus ohediensy not made themselves so. Christ was so
**made." And *'for this cause."

4. Foetus. And something strange it is, why humiliavit Ipse Se obediens,
would not serve, and no more, but factus must be added.
Somewhat there was in that. An obedience there is that
Cometh from the dictamen of natural reason ; in some things we
so obey, we will do it because our reason so moveth us. That
is, obediens natus. But some other there be, wherein there is
no other reason to lead us to do it but only this, that it is
enjoined us by a lawful superior, and therefore we do it, and
for no other cause. This is obediens factus, and that in true
proper terms is the right obedience indeed. All look to the
former, and very few obey thus. But even so obeyed Christ,

Lu. 2. 51. et erat subditus illis. And for this cause then, that He was
factus obediens.

o. Usque. And obediens factus usqtie, is a fifth. For the very size, the
extent of our obedience, is a matter considerable. For if we

Of the ResurrectiotL 327

come to any, it is Agrippa's in modicOy " in some petty small Acts 26.28.
matter." Or SauPs, in the refuse of the spoils little worth. iSaiii.i6.9.
And that obedience is little worth, that is so shrunk up. The
drawing out, the iisque of it is all in all. How far obedient?
until what ? usque quo 9 Which very extent or usque is many
times as much worth as the obedience itself. This also will
come into the propter quod.

Now many tisques there be in this of His ! 1. Usque natU" PhU. 2. 7.
ram haminisy — thither. His very humanity had been humility
enough. 2. Usque formam servi, is more. How ? Even " to i Sam. 25.
wash the feet of thy servants," said Abigail, and took herself
to be very humble in so saying. Thither He came too. Job. is. 6.

What say ye to usque mortem^ the sixth point ? Mortem f 6. Mortem.
that will stagger the best of us. We love obedience in a
whole skin ; usque any thing, rather than that And to say job 2. 4.
truth, no reason in the world obedience should come to that.
** Death is the wages of sin," of disobedience. Factus obediens? Rom. 6. 23.
What, and^c^^ reus too ? Obedient, and yet put to death ?
Heaven and earth should ring of it, if the case were ours.
Well, even thither came His obedience ; ety ne perderet obe^
dientiamy perdidit vitam, * and rather than to lose His obedi-
ence, lost His life.' This is indeed, a great propter quod.

Enough now, for death is ultima linea^ we say. Nay, there 7. Mortem
is yet dji^utem more behind, to make it up full seven. For ^"^ *^**"
one death is worse than another. And His was wor^^iw [* Hor. Ep.
autemy the worst death of all, the death of malefactors, and of ' '
the worst sort of malefactors, mortem cruets.

Nay, if He must die, let Him die an honest, a fair death.
Not so ; nay morte turpissimdy said they of it that put Him to
it, the foulest death of all other ; usque mortemy mortem autem Phii. 2. 8.
cmcis.

Died, and so died. Ever the so, the manner is more than
the thing itself, in all of Christ. To be bom, so to be born,
usque presepey * to the cratch ;' to die, nay so to die, usque Lu. 2. 7.
crucem, * to the cross.' Usque naturam hominisy usque formam
serviy usque mortem malejici. 1. So great a person ; 2. Thus
to humble; 3. Humble His Ownself; 4. To be obedient;
5. To be made obedient ; 6. Obedient with an usque, so far;
7. So far as to death; 8. And to a death so opprobrious;—
these extensives, and intcnsivcs put together, will I trust make

S^ Of the BuwrrecHmL

S B R M. up A perfect propter quod. And this for humiUtas claritatu

merltum in the first Terse.

IX. Now, for clarUas hwrniSiaiu prmrnxumy in the rest And

will ye observe how they answer one another ? For humWa'

Phil t.9. vU there, here is ezaliami ; for Ip9t there, DeuSy *^ God" here;

{otipte Se.DeusIpsum ; ** He hombled Himself," '' Gkxl exalted

Him.^' For hamiliavit usque there, here is exaltamt super.

For foetus nbediens there, here foetus Dominus. For mortm

crucisy ** the death of the cross" there, here is *^ the glory of

God the Father."

Super- This exalting we reduced to two: 1. Of His Person;

'fyf^n ^' ^^ ^^ Name. Of His Person, in super-exaltavit Ipsum;

of His Name in the rest of the verse.

To begin with His personal exaltation. Super^exdUax^
is a de-compound. There is ex and super both in it His
exalting hath an ex, whence or out of what ; His exalting
hath a super^ whither or whereunto.
jCx. Exy from whence ? from the two very last words, morim

cruets. His raising to life opposed to mortem, the sorrows of
death. The giving of His Name, to crucis, the shame of the
cross. This day*s ex was from death. His kumiHavit had
been adkvmumy * to the ground ;' nay farther, into the ground;
Kph. 4. 9. nay farther yet, eh Kararrepa "into the very lowest parts of
it." His exaltavit then was from thence, from death; and
Ps. 9. 18. not " the gates of death" — then He was not in ; nor " the jaws
Pa. 49. 16. Qf death" — then He was not quite down ; but from inferiora,
Prov.7. 27. and interiora, "the lowermost" and "innermost" rooms of
Mat. 28. 2. death. From under the stone — thence ; from the dungeon,
G«n.40.i6. with Joseph ; from the bottom of the den, with Daniel; from
l)a».6. 28. ^jjg belly of the whale, with Jonas: — all three types of Him:

Jonali2.10. , . '^__. ' •'^

there IS His ex.

Super, Now then, whither ? From death to life, from shame to

glory, from a death of shame to a life of glory. From the
ionn of a servant in factus obediens, to the dignity of a
Sovereign in^c^M^ Dominus.

Horn. 6. 16. But will ye mark again ? For non sicut delictum^ sic donunh
saith he elsewhere ; so here, not as His humbling, so was His
exalting, but more. That of His humbling was dispatched
in one verse ; This of His exalting hath no less than three.
So the amends is large, three to one.

Oftlie Resurrection. 329

But that is not it I mean, but this. Super is not thither
only, but above and beyond it. From death to life; nay,
m-per^ more than so. Not to Lazarus' life, to die again, but Joh. 11.44.
to life immortal, vt vitam habeat et abundantius habeat; — that Joh.io. lo.
abundantius is immortality. From shame to glory? only
that? Nay, super ^ "to the glory of the Father," that is,
glory, that shall " never fade," as all here shall. So down- i Pet. i. 4.
ward, it was but usqiie^ had his stint, so far, and no far-
ther; upward now it is, super, no stint but higher and
higher still.

This day is the feast of the first fruits. On it. He had no Lev.23.io.
more, but the first-fruits of His exalting. He was exalted,
but with Jonah's exaltation only, from the lower parts to the Jon. 2. lo.
upper parts of the earth. But we shall follow Him higher, to
the exaltation of Elias, super y * above* the clouds ; nay, super, 2 Kings 2.
* above' the stars, above the Heavens, and the Heavens of the
Heavens, till we have brought Him from de profundis, to
tit ezcelsis, ' from the lowest part of the earth' to ^ the highest
place in Heaven,' even to the right hand of God. And higher
we cannot go.

Will ye observe yet once more a kind of omen or presage
of both these exaltings, and that at the very time of His
humiliation ? For even that His humiliation was acted after
the manner of an exalting, though in a mere mockery. For,
to all their disgraces, they added this of scorn. They lift Him
up upon His cross, for all the world, as the Philistines did
Samson ; set Him alofl ^* between the two pillars," to make Judges 16.
sport at Him. This was His exaltation. And they gave ^'„i^ 15.
Him a name too, Pilate's title over His head, and bowed their l^ !^. ,<>

' ^ '^ Maricl5.1o.

knees, and cried, Ave Rex — ^a kind of confession.

This, as they performed it, was yrande ludibrium; but
as God tumeth it, it was grande mysterium. For, to earnest
God tumeth both. A kind of strife there seemed to be : the
lower they, the higher God ; the more odious they sought to
make Him, the more glorious God ; He exalted His Person,
instead of the cross, to His own high throne of majesty.
And instead of Pilate's title, gave Him a title of true honour,
above all the titles in the world.

And this for super-exaliamt Ipsunu And so I pass from the
exalting of His Person, the amends for mortem, and come to

330 Of the Resurrection.

s £ R M. the exalting of His Name, the amends for crucis^ in the latter
— part of the same verse.

D^j^ £1 " He gave Him a name." For without a name, what is

nomau exalting? What is His Nativity without an Epiphany? For
to those two may these two here well be compared. His
resurrection is a very Nativity. To it doth St. Paul apply the

Act8i3.8d. verse of the V^uiy Hodie genui Te; and this name-giving is as
the Epiphany, to make it apparent and known to the world.
And indeed, why are things exalted or lift up, but that they
may be in view, and notice taken of them ? So that they
which be exalted, seem not so to be, till their so being be
made public, and there go a name of it abroad in the world.
And sure, when men are so high as higher they cannot be,
as Kings, there is no other way to exalt them left us but this;
to spread abroad, to dilate their names. Which every noble
generous spirit had rather have than any dignity, though
never so high. For being in their dignities, how far will they
' venture, even to jeopard dignity, life and all, and all but to
leave a glorious name behind them ! That to give a name, is
even to exalt his very exaltation itself and to make him,
that is at the highest, higher yet.

Super om- " A uamc He gave Him :" what name ? not inter 'among' the
famous names on earth, but super omne nomeUy * above them all.'
Here is super upon super^ another super to His Name, no less
than His Person. That above all persons, and this above all
names whatsoever. And now by this time His exaltation
is complete^ and not one super to be added more.

This name is named in the verse, and it is '' the Name of

Dedit Ei. Jcsus." Of the giving first, and then of the super y of it.

Of the giving, three doubts arise: 1. How given Him, and

others had it Jilso ? 2. How given now, and He had it before,

even in the womb of His mother? 3. How given Him of

grace, and yet He deserved it? Propter quod.

1. How is this name said to be given Him as some special

iiad it. dignity, and others had it beside and before Him ? Jesus the

Heb. 4. 8. ^Qrti^y^ the gQU ^f jq^^j^ . jgsus the high Priest, the son of

Hag. 1. 1. Josedech, to say nothing of Jesus the son of Sirach. They
had it, it is true, but not given them by God, as He by the

Mat. 1. 21. mouth of the Angel, God's deputy. But they by men, had
men to their god -fathers, as now we have a sect or society of

Of the Besurrection. 33 1

esus ; but they gave themselves the name^ God never gave
; tbem. He 'gave it here for htrniiliavity a virtue they little
egard : for he that doth but smell of it, is eo ipso not meet to
)e of that company. Other manner spirits they.

I have before this told you of four main differences, between Sermon at
:his Jesus and all others. This one now shall serve for alL leio.**™*^
Ml those Jesuses, and every one of them, had need of, and
^ere glad " to lay hold of the skirts" of this Jesus, to be saved Zech.8. 23.
by Him : otherwise they had been falsely so called, lost men
all. And so will be willing to resign this name to Him that
He may bear it, at least with a main difference from them alL

But what tell ye us of it now after the Resurrection ? Do not Dedu el
we know it was given Him, being yet in the womb? It was He had it
k>, but by a kind of anticipation. For it never had the ^^ore.
3erfect verifying, the full Christendom, as they say, till this
lay. Not yet full three days since, they upbraided Him
vith it Jesus a Saviour ! A wise Saviour, and "cannot save Mat. 27.42.
Simself !" For He seemed to perish then, to lose His life in
heir sight; but now, this day "taking it again," He shewed Joh. lo.is.
3e did but lay it down. He lost it not ; He was now Jesus
ndeed, able to save Himself; and able to save all those that Heb. 5.9.
rust in Him for their salvation. So it was never in kind
ill now, but now it was.

But if He gave it Him, and exftpUraroy "gave it Him otDedUEL
prace," where is the merit then ? the propter quod we spake of. He did
whsLt is become of that? Safe enough for all this. That^^"*^*-
^hich is otherwise due, it may be so cheerfully parted with,
IS if it were a frank and free gifl; indeed. The Apostle else-
B^here hath taught us to join debita and benevolentia in one; lCor.7. 3.
they will stand together well enough.

In many things we suffer slander by the Church of Rome ;
in this among many, as if we pinched at Christ's merit, and
were loath He should be allowed Himself to merit aught,
because of this ixopicraroy that soundeth all upon grace.
Wberein it is well known, take the most can be made of it,
md we say no other thing than do their own schoolmen. It
8 not ffratia adoptionis, this, * the grace of adoption,' as in us,
hat is here spoken of; it is gratia unionis, ^the grace of
mion/ And that grace Christ had. For seeing in the
mmanity of Christ, there was not, there could not be, any

332 Of the Resurrection.

s B R IL possibility of merit, to deserve the uniting itself, or the bemg

— assumed into the Godhead ; to be so assumed and so united,

was that grace we termed the grace of union. Other grace we

know none in Christ But being once so united, there was

in Him to deserve, and deserve again, and that amply.

Propter quod, might then be truly said of Him every way.

Super This for the giving. But now, how is this Name said to be

r^yeiji " above all names?'' what, above the Name of God? We

n^mes.'* may say with the Apostle when he saith, '* God did give

iCor.16.27. it Him," " it is manifest He is excepted" That did give it Him.

But we need not so say, for this is one of God's own names.

Isa. 48. 11. ** I am, saith He, and beside Me there is no Saviour.''

How is it then given Him ? Accepit ut homo quodhabehatvt
Deus ; * What as God He had, as man He received ;' with His
nature His name, and the chief of all His names, the Name
of a Saviour. For above all it is, above all to Him, above
all to us.
Above all To Him : for though many titles of the Deity sound and
to Him. geeju tQ be more glorious, yet He esteems them all not like
this. Why? For no other reason but that they had not
nos homines^ and nostrum Salutem^ in them. No name He
sets by like that, wherein with His glory is joined our safety.
And this of all He made choice of, as to Him above all, that
we might accordingly esteem of Him That esteems it above |
all, only for our sakes.
Above all But howsocver to Him, to us sure above all. For no name
*^^* do we hold by, "no name under Heaven given us whereby
Acts 4. 12. we may be saved, but it." To us more worth it is than all;
yea, I may say, than the very name of God. For " God in
2Ck)r.5.i9. Him reconcileth the world;" without Him is enemy to it,
and to us. So with this name there is comfort in the name
of God; without it none at all. The name sure which we
have use of above all. For it is the name which in the
depth of all our distress, by sin or by misery, we even adjure
Him by, ut rem nominis impleat, Uhat He make good His
own name,' shew He bears it not for nought, and so save us;
that He would never so remember our wretched sins, as that
thereby to forget His own blessed name, that name specially,
which He of all other most esteemeth, and so of all other will
least forget To Him then and to us both, it is nomen super

Of the Resurrection. 333

mne nomen. And so let it be^evcn auprema lex salus^ and
tupremum nomen Jesus^ 'to save the highest law^ and the
name of a Saviour the highest name.' Let it so be, let it
ever stand highest, and let no name whatsoever get above it
And so I come to the tenth verse.

" That at the name of Jesus," &c. To give Him such a Pha.2.10.
name, is one gift ; to give Him, that for such an one it should ntme of
be reputed and taken, is another. For given it may be on J^sus."
His part, and not acknowledged on ours. So that diis is a
new degree.

That God, though he have so exalted it, yet reckons it not
exalted, unless we do our parts also, unless our exaltation
come too. At which words comes in our duty, the part that
concerns us. Thus to esteem it super omne nomen, "above all,"
tod in sign we so do, to declare as much. And therein He
leaves us not to ourselves, but prescribes the very manner of
our declaration, how He will have it, namely, these two ways;
"The knee to bow to it,^' " the tongue to confess it."

Now these are outward acts, both. So then, first we are to «Knee"
set down this for a ground, that the exalting of the soul within S^ngue.»
is not enough. More is required by Him, more to be per-
formed by us. He will not have the inward parts only, and
it skills not for the outward members, though we favour our
knees, and lock up our lips. No, mental devotion will not
Serve, He will have both corporal and vocal to express it by.
Our body is to afford her part, to His glory ; and the parts
of our body, and namely, these two, the knee, and the tongue.
Not only the upper parts, the tongue in our head, but even
the nether also, the knee in our leg. The words be plain, I
see not how we can avoid them.

For the "knee,'' two things: 1. He would have it "bow;" «Knee
2. He would have it " bow'' to His Name. " Bow," first ; for \'^'^- "
what better way, or more proper, than by our humility to '^*
exalt Him Who for His humility was exalted? Or what
way more fit, to express our humility by, than by this sign of
humbleness ? For a special way it is of exalting, or making
a thing high, by falling down and making ourselves low before
it Then secondly, that God careth for our knees, will be
served with them. Negatively ; He will not have them " bow iKinga 19.
to Baal.*' Positively ; He will have them " bow" to Himself.

334 Of the Resurrection.

SERBL Will ye believe Him if He bind it with an oath? "I have

IX.

sworn," saith He, *'by Myself, that every knee shall bow to Me.*

* And will ye make God forsworn ? And it cannot be said,
Rom. 14. this is Old Testament, for even in the New these very words
are applied to Christ, as meant to be fulfilled in and to Him.
But this here in the text is more strong, that it is assigned
Him, this honour, as a part of His reward for mortem cruds*
And shall we rob Him, or take from Him the reward of His
Passion ?

We begin our Liturgy every day with the Psalm — ^and we
had it from the Primitive Churchy they did begin theirs with
Ps. 96. 6. the same — wherein we invite ourselves to it ; ** Come, let us
worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker."
Shall we ever say it, and*never do it? Is not this to mock
God?

They in the Scripture*, they in the Primitive Church*,
did so, did " bow." And verily, He will not have us worship
Him like elephants, as if we had no joints in our knees ; He
will have more honour of men, than of the pillars in the i
Church. He will have us **bow the knees;'' and let us
" bo V them in God's Name.
Bow to His To "bow the knee," and to His name to bow it; for this
*™^' is another prerogative. He is exalted to whose person knees
do bow ; but He to whose name only, much more. But the
Acts 1. 9. cause is here otherwise. For His Person is taken up out of
Ps. 16. 2. our sight, all we can do will not reach unto it. But His name
He hath left behind to us, that we may shew by our reverence
and respect to it, how much we esteem Him, how true the
Pa. 111. 9. Psalm shall be, " Holy and reverend is His name."

But if we have much ado to get it, " bow" at all, much more
shall we have to get it done to His name. 1. There be that
do it not.

2. What speak I of not doing it? There be that not only

* Flexis Genibus Orantes Reges. Acts 20. 36. 21. 5.

David, Ps. 95. 6. Solomon, 1 Kings *» Euseb. Hist. 1. 5. c. 5. Tertul.

8. 54. Ezekias, 2 Chron. 29. 80. — Pro- contra Marc. lib. 8. cap. 18., et De
phetae; Daniel, Dan. 6. 10. Ezra, Ezra corona Mil. cap. 3. Athanas. in vitft
9.5. Micah, Mic. 6. 6. — Christus Ipse; Anton, fere in fine. Basil apud (Eciun.
Luke 22. 41.— Apostoli ; Petrus, Act Nazian. OraL 2. de Filio,Sive 36. Hie-

9. 40. Paulus, Eph. 8. 14. Jacobus, ron. in Eph. 3. et in loc Aug. de cuii
Hegesip. 5 lib. apud Hieron. [Tom. 4. pro mort. gerend. c. 5. Theoph. Alex.
p. 2. 101. Ben, Edit,^ Stephanus, Acts 7. Ep. Pasc. 2. Csesar. Arel. Horn. 34.
60. Ecclesia idque ipsa Pentecoste,

Of the Resurrection, 335

Eur to do it themselves, but put themselves to an evil
)ation, to find faults where none is, and cast scruples into
I minds, by no means to do it.

Not to do it at His name ? Nay, at the holy mysteries
selves not to do it. Where His name is, I am sure, and

than His name, even the body and blood of our Lord
Christ; and those, not without His soul; nor that
>ut His deity; nor all these, without inestimable high
its of grace attending on them. And yet they that
1 be glad and fain, a pardon for this life, or some other
t, with all humility to receive upon their knees ; this so
, so high, so heavenly a gift, they strain and make dan-
is, to bow their knees to receive it ; as if it were scarce
I so much. But it hath ever been the manner in Christ's
ch, whether we offer to Him, or^ receive aught offered Mat. 2. u.
Him, in this wise to do it.

t to keep us to the Name, this is sure, the words them-
) are so plain as they are able to convince any man's
ience ; and there is no writer, not of the ancient, on this
, that I can find, save he that turned all into allegories,
iterally understands it, and likes well enough we should
Uy perform it.

t will ye see, what subtilties are taken up to shift this
?
. knees are called for, and all have not knees. Here are

ranks reckoned, and two of them have none. What is
X) us ? we have. To us it is properly spoken, and we to
:o it. And if this were aught, that the spirits in Heaven
lell have no bodies, and so no knees, why, they have no
les neither properly, and then by the same rule, take

confessing too, and so do neither.

t the Apostle, that in another place gives the Angels iCJor.is.i.
les, "with the tongues of men and Angels,** might as
in this place, give them knees ; they have one as much
B other. And in both places humanum dicit, he speaks
I, " after the manner of men," that we by our own Rom.6. 19.
age might conceive what they do. For sure it is, the

rysost Horn. adPop. Antioc.61. Amb. Hex. lib. 6. cap. 9. Hieron. in
s.inPs. 118.bi8.Etlib.3.cap.l2. Isa. 45. 23. Cyril, in Isa. torn. 4.
r. S. Aug. Epist. 120. cap. 27. Orat. 3. 1.

336 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. spirits of both kinds^ as they do yield reverence, so they have
'- — their ways and means to express it, by somewhat avd\jorfov to

the knee. They do it their way, we to do it ours. And this
is ours: let us look to our own then, and not busy our brains
about theirs. But for us, and for our sakes, they are divers

Rev. 4. 10. times expressed in the Revelation, even doing thus, "falling

Rev. 6. 8. d^^^ before Him."

14.

Rev. 7. 11. Secondly, why to this name, more than to the name of

« The* Christ ? There want not reasons why.

name of Christ is not, cannot be, the name of God : God cannot be

Jesus.

anointed. But Jesus is the name of God, and the chief
name of God, as we have heard.

The name Christ is communicated by Him to others,
isa. 43. 11. namely to princes; so is not Jesus, that is proper. Effo sum^
et prcBter Me non est alius. And ever that which is proper is
above that which is holden in common.

Christ is anointed to what end ? to be our Saviour. That
is the end then. And ever, the end is above the means;
ever the name of health, above the name of any medi-
cine.

But when we find expressly in the verse, this name is
exalted above all names, and this act limited to it in direct
words, and so this name above them in this very peculiar,
why seek we any farther ?

3. Thirdly, What ? to the two syllables, or to the sound of
them ? What needs this ? Who speaks of sound or syllables?
The text saitb, do it to the Name. The name is not the
sound but the sense. The caution is easy then, do it to the
sense : have mind on Him that is named, and do His Name
the honour, and spare not.

4. Fourthly, but it cannot be denied but there hath supersti-
tion been used in it. Suppose there hath. And almost, in
what not? In hearing of sermons now, is there not supersti-
tion in a great many ? What shall we do then ? Lay them
down? abandon hearing, as we do kneeling? I trow not,
but remove the superstition, and retain them still; do but
even so here, and all is at an end.

Indeed, if it were a taken-up worship, or some human

injunction, it might perhaps be drawn within the case of the

2 Kings brazen serpent But being thus directly set down by God

Of the ResurrecHan. 337

ilimself, in us there may be superstition, in it there can be
lone. And if it be in us, we are to mend ourselves, but not
o stir the act, which is of God's own prescribing. It was
lever heard in divinity, that ever superstition could abolish a
luty of the text.

That we set ourselves to drive away superstition, it is well ;
mi it will be well too that we so drive it away, as we drive
tot all reverent regard and decency away with it also. And
re we not well toward it ? we have driven it from our head,
d>T we keep on of all hands ; and from our knees, for kneel
re may not — ^we use not, I am sure. Sure heed would be
aken, that by taking heed we prove not superstitious we slip
lOt into the other extreme before we be aware, which of the
wo extremes religion worse endureth, as more opposite unto
:. For believe this, as it may be superstitiously used, so it
lay irreligiously be neglected also.

liook to the text then, and let no man persuade you but
iiat God requireth a reverent carriage, even of the body
tself ; and namely, this service of the knee, and that to His
Ion's Name. Ye shall not displease Him by it, fear not ; fear
his rather for the knee, if it will not bow, that it shall be
tricken with somewhat, that it shall not be able to bow. And
^T the Name, that they that will do no honour to it, when
ime of need comes, shall receive no comfort by it. And so I
eave this point

For the knee is not all. He farther requires somewhat from The
he tongue. And reason: that member of all other the pg 30.12.
Psalmist calls our ^* glory," a peculiar we have more than the ^^- ^7- ^•
>ea8ts ; they will be taught to bow and bend their joints, we
lave tongues besides to do something more than they. And
ndeed, the knee is but a dumb acknowledgment, doth but
ignify implicite; but a vocal confession, that doth utter our
nind plainly. And so is looked for at our hands.

This he calls i^o/ioXoyrjai^. Three things are in it ; first To con-
ioy<K — speak we must, say somewhat. And secondly, ofwvy do
t together ; not some speak, and some sit mute. And thirdly,
ff , speak out, not whispering or between the teeth, but clearly
md audibly. And this is i^ofidXj6yr]ai<:. And it was the
praise of the primitive Church, this, that jointly they did it
md aloud ; that their Amen, as St. Hierome saith, was like a

z

338 Of the Remrrection.

S E R M. clap of thunder, and their Allelujah as the roaring of the

sea ; and no praise it is to us, who as our joints are stiff to I
IProoem.' bow, SO our voices are hoarse to confess. We can neither see
Qijat] *^^ former, nor scarce hear the latter ; as if, there being but

two duties in the text, we meant to suppress them both. |

"Knee" The "knee" and the "tongue." Why the knee first? why
thon"*^ begins He there ? They be marshalled right. For having by
«* tongue." Qur « knee" bowed, put ourselves in mind of due regard of Him
in fear and reverence, we are then the fitter to speak of Him
and to Him with that respect is meet; and not be so homely
with Him as in their gesture and speech both some are, as
if they were Hail fellow, even familiar with God. And all |
forsooth, as they call it, to cast out the spirit of bondage, i
From a heart possessed with the humble fear of God, irom
such an heart, confession is ever most kindly ; faith being as
the heart, and fear being as the lungs — so the Fathers com-
pare them ; it will get an heat and an over-heat, our faith, if
by fear, as cool air, it be not tempered ; but faith and fear
together make the blessed mixture.
"Every The tongue and "every tongue,^' as the knee and "every
«* Every knee ;" they to bow all, and these all to confess. But for all that,
ongue. ^ ^^^ ^ij ^Yii^e. They in Heaven " cast down their crowns,
Rev. 4. 10. g^rjj f^ij down" themselves of their own accord; and con-

LvL, 2. 14. ...

Rev, 15. 3. fess Him singing, as at His birth, and in the Revelation, divers

Rev! 6. 9. times. They under the earth do it too, but not ultro, are

Ps. 110. 1. thrown down, and even made His " foot-stool." So down they

Mark 9. 26. go, though sore against their wills; and confess Him too

' though roaring, and as it were upon the rack. They on earth,

as in the midst, partake of both. The better sort, with the

Angels, get them to their knees gladly, and cheerfully confess

3. Him. The rest, as Infidels and some Christians little better,

Joh. 18. 6. are forced to "fall backward," and made in the end to cry Vt"

Hev.iQ. 10. cisti Galilcee^ though "they gnaw their tongues" when they

have done.

So we see our lot; one way or other we shall come to
it all: if not now, in die illoy which is the reason that
Rom. 14. the Apostle applieth this place in Esay to Christ's sit-
ting in judgment at the latter day. Exalted He shall be

[isa. 46. with our good wills, or whether we will or no. Either fall
24 n
*-■ on our knees now, or be cast flat on our faces then ; either

Of the Resurrection, 3^9

confess Him cantandoy with Saints and Angels, or ululandoy with
devils and damned spirits. For the Father will be glorified in
the Son, by the glorious confession of them that yield, or the
glorious confusion of them that stand out.

The tongue and "every tongue;" that is, every speech, « Every
dialect, idiom, language in the world, stand charged with *°°*^®-
this confession. Ornnis spiritus, " every spirit" to give breath, Ps. 150.
and omnis lingua, " every tongue" to be as a trumpet to sound "^^'
it forth. And where are they then that deny any tongue the
faculty here granted, or bar any of them the duty here
enjoined ? That lock up the public confession, the chief of
all other, in some one tongue or two, and send forth their
supersedeas to all the rest? No, His title here hath more
tongues than Pilate's on the cross ; that had but three, this
hath " every tongue,^' what, where, whose-soever, none except.
A prceludium whereof was in the " tongues" sent from Heaven,
whereby every nation under Heaven " heard, each in their Acts 2. 4.
own tongue spoken," magnalia Dei, the glad tidings of the
Gospel.

But though thus many tongues, yet one confession. Even '< Confess
this, that "Jesus Christ is the Lord." And a blessed confes- cbristTs"*
sion IS it, this, that Jesus, that is, a Saviour, that He, that ^^® Lord."
such a one, " is the Lord \" that not a fleecer or a flayer, but a
Saviour hath the place. 2. That Christ, that is, one which
saveth and cureth unctione non punctione, with anointing not
with searing or pricking — that we acknowledge Him to be
** the Lord." " Lord'' before by that He is Son, and now Lord
again by virtue of His propter quod,

"Lord" whereof? Nay not qualified of such a place,
barony, county, signory, but Lord in abstracto. But if we
will qualify Him we may. Lord of these three ranks of con-
fessors here in the verse, and of those three places and regions
that contain them: 1. "Lord of Heaven" — He gave "the Mat. I6. 19.
keys'' of it 2. Lord of earth — He hath " the key of David," Rev. 3. 7.
and if of His, of every kingdom else. 3. Lord of hell, for lo. Rev. 1. 18.
" the keys of hell and of death." " Of death," to unlock the
graves; "of hell," to lock up " the old dragon" and his crew. Rev. 20. 2,
into the bottomless pit A great Lord ; for whither shall one ^'
go to get out of His dominion.

Well, if it be but to confess this, that is no great matter, we

z2

340 Of the RuwrreeHmL

S E R M. will not stick with Him : who cannot say, ** Jesus Christ is the

—^ Lord?" That '*can no man," saith the Apostle — say it as it

* should be said, *' but by the Holy Ghost." For confessing Him
Lord, we confess more things by Him than one. For two things

Mat 14.80. go to it. 1. St. Peter gives us one, 2. St. Paul, the other.
1. Domine salva,pere0y saith St Peter ; **Save Lord, I sink:"— a

AcU9. €L Lordtosave. 2. Dominequidme visfacere f saiihSt.'Paul. '^rd
what service wouldst Thou I should do V^ — a Lord to serve.

St Peter's we like well, to succour and save us, when m
are in any danger; He shall hear of us then. But St Paul's
Quid me visfaceref when it comes to that, then our confes-

Pfl. 12. 4. sion fumbles and sticks in our teeth. Nay then, Qm alt
Daminus noster f we have no Lord, we then. So we play fast
and loose with our confession; fast at succour, loose at
service ; in at one, out at the other.

But what speak I of doing His will ? when, if He do not
ours in each respect ; if we have not this or that when we
would, we fall from confessing, and fall to murmuring. And it
fareth with us, not as if He were Lord and we to do His will,
but as if we indeed were the lords and He to do ours : as if
there were nothing between us and Him, but He to do our
turns, and then, Tu autem Domine^ His Lordship were expired
and at an end.

Upon the point thus it is ; we confess it the wrong way,
the Lord to be Jesus, but not Jesus to be the Lord.
Lord, be Jesus ; but not, O Jesus, be Lord. O Lord, be Jesus
to save us ; but not, O Jesus, be Lord to command us. So
that all our humiliavit still is Yfiihout f actus obediens.

Ye see then, it is worth the while to confess this, as it
should be confessed. In this wise none can do it but '* by the
Holy Ghost." Otherwise, for an ore tenus only, our own ghost
will serve well enough. But that is not it. Quid me vis
facere ? is it that makes " the Lord." He tells us so Himself,
and with a kind of admiration that any should think other-

Lu. 6. 46. wise ; " How call ye Me Lord," saith He, " and do not as I
will you ?" As much to say as, It is to no purpose, though

Mat 7. 21. you say Domine^ Domine; double it, and treble it too, it will

Tit. 1. 16. go for no confession, if Afactis negant come in the neck of it,
if St. Paul's Quid me visfaceref be left out.

"Confess And this is yet more plain by the last words of all,

to the

Of the Resurrection, 341

lamely, that this confession is so to be made^ as it redound glory of
* to the glory of God the Father." Whose great glorj it is, that Father."
Elis Son is Lord of such servants, that men shall say. See i^hat
servants He hath ! How full of reverence to His Name ! How
Tee, how forward to do His will I Herein is His Name much
nagnified. As on the other side it must needs be ^^evil
spoken of, and that among the very heathen," when not a knee Rom. 2. 24.
50t to bow; when this syllable. Lord, comes out of our
mouth, but no Quid me visfacere ? to follow it. When they
see how unservice-like our service is, how rude our behaviour
toward Him and His Name, Whom we term Lord indeed, but
use Him nothing so. But come hither into His presence,
and carry ourselves here for all the world as the fellow did
before Augustus, of whom Maecenas well said ; Hie homo eru-
hescit timere Cmsarem. And so we, as if we were ashamed to seem
to bear any reverence at all to Him, or His name. It would not
be thus. I am privy there is no one thing doth more alien
those that of a simple mind refuse the Church, than this,
that they see so unseemly behaviour, so small reverence ,

shewed this way. But sure, the Apostle tells us our carriage
there should be such, so decent, as if a stranger or unbeliever
should come into our assemblies, the very reverence he there
seeth, should make Him fall down and say, " Verily God is iCor.i4.26.
among us," to see us so respectfully bear ourselves in the
manner of our worship.

This confession that '* Jesus is the Lord," is to be " to the "Jesus is
glory of God the Father :" so we take it one way. Or this to^the "^
confession is to be, "that Jesus is the Lord to the glory ofg^^^^^
God the Father:" so another way. And both well. To Father."
"confess" that He is "the Lord,^' that all His Lordship is not
to His own glory, but to His Father's. Think not then that
gUyria Filio shall abate aught of gloria Patri. The Son is
" Lord to the glory of His Father," and not otherwise. Let
that fear then be far from us, that in exalting the Son we
shall in the least minute eclipse the glory of His Father.
Here is no fear of emulation, that it will prove the case of
Jupiter and Saturn. No, so blessed is the accord of this
Father and this Son, as the Father thinketh it some blemish
to His glory, if so profound humility, so complete obedience,
He had not seen highly rewarded with super upon super.

{

342 Of the Beturreetum.

s E R IL And the Son will admit of no glory that shall impair His
— [^ — . Father's in the least degree ; for lo, " He is Lord to the glory
of God His Father/' This is the end of His, of Christ's, and
the same may be the end of all exaltations ; that a Saviour ever
maybe "Lord," — hold that place, and hold it and be ^^Lord," not
to His own, but "to the glory of God," even "God the Father.**

The con- ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^'9 ^"^ ^^ must needs know and take that with
elusion, ug^ fQY which all this here is brought. And it is a lesson, even
Mat. 11.29. His Discite a Me; and it is a pattern, even His exemplum dedi
Joh. 13. 15. vobijty to commend unto us the virtue of the text, the propter
Lu.2. 12. quod of the feast, even humility; hoc erit signum^ it is His

sign at Christmas. As His sign then, so Hva propter quod nov

at Easter ; so the virtue of both feasts. I will offer you but

three short points touching it
1- It is no humble man is set before us here, it is the Son of

arii. God, and Himself God; et quomodo non humiliatur homo^

PerMD? coram humili Deo ? How is not the son of man humble, and

the Son of God is ? Even for Him to love it, for His very

Person.

2. And in this verse He is not barely set out to us, but in it

■Mr 1 •^

and by it bringing to pass the works of our redemption,
which cannot but extraordinarily commend this virtue to usj
in that it bath pleased God to do more for us in this His humi-
lity, than ever He did in all His Majesty, even to save and

Joh. 10.38. redeem us by it. To love it then, if not for Him, yet '' for

Joh. 14. 11. the work's sake."

3. But specially, which is the third, for the propter quod in
the text ; if not for the work, yet for the reward's sake. That
as Christ was no loser by it no more shall we, for all this
glory here, the way to it, is by the first verse. Humiliavit
is the beginning, and the end of it is exalting. That the
mother, this the daughter ; all riseth from humiliavit Ipse Se,

Jas. 4. 10. Humiliamini ergo, saith St. James ; humiliamini ergoy saith St.

1 Pet 0. 6. Peter ; and after it there foUoweth still, et exaltabit vos Deus,
a promise of a like glorious end. And what saith the Apostle

Phil. 2. 5. here? "This mind,"saith he, "wasin Christ," and it was^popelv,
a wise mind ; that we count it a wise mind, and worth the
carrying, and carry it; and it shall carry us to the same
journey's end it brought Him, even " to the glory of God the
Father." This for humility.

Of the Resurrection, 343

And what ? Shall we not give some light trial of our obedient
obedience also, to aver our confession, that He is our Lord ? *"^'
It would be by Dominey quid nos vis facere ? that is the true
trial. Say then DominCy quid nos vis facere ? and He will
answer us, Hocfacite in Mei memoriam. Will ye know what I
would have you do ? " Do this, in remembrance of Me." [Luke 22.
In sign that I am Lord, do but this ; here is a case of '^
instance, and that now, even at this very present, a proof to
be made. By this we shall see, whether He be Lord or no.
For if not this, but slip the collar here, and shrink away ; si 2 Kings 5.
rem grandem dixissety in a far greater matter, how would we
stand with Him then ? We were wrong before ; here is the
sound and syllables we spake of, here it is. For all is but
sound and syllables, if not this.

But of us, " I hope for better things," that by our humble Heb. a 9.
carriage and obedience, at least in this, we will set ourselves
some way to exalt Him, in this His day of exaltation; which,
as it will tend to His glory, so will He turn it to matter of
our glory, and that in His kingdom of glory ; or to keep the
word of the text, " in the glory of God the Father." That so
we may end, as the text ends. A better or more blessed end
there cannot be. And to this blessed end He bring us. That
by His humility and obedience, hath not only purchased it
for us, but set the way open, and gone it before us, " Jesus [i Job. 2.
Christ the Righteous," &c. !

A SERMON

PBSACHBD BEFOBB

THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE NINTH OF APBIL, A.D. MDCXV. BEING EA8TEB-DAT.

John ii. 19.

Jesus answered and said. Dissolve (or destroy) this Temple^ and
within three days I will raise it up again,

Respondit Jestts et dixit eta Solvite Templum hoc, et in tribus diebus
excitaho illud.

[Jesus answered and said unto them^ Destroy this Temple, and in
three days I will raise it up, Engl. Trans.]

SERM. He "answered and said" this to the Pharisees, who
■ ^ — sought "a sign" of Him the verse next before. A sign they

sion: would have, and He tells them, a sign they should have.

joh.*2f^8. Themselves should minister Him occasion to shew a sign, the
like was never shewn. For destroy Him they should. His
body so, and He within three days would raise it again from
death to life.

The But this answer of His is a figurative speech, and runs

J^^^g under the terms of the Temple. The reason whereof was,
they were then in the Temple ; there, fell out this question.
And as it appeareth in the verses before, much ado there had
been between them, and that a long time, about the Temple.

Now His manner still was — the place, the time, the matter
in hand, ever to frame the tenor and terms of His speech,
according to them. And so, now being in the Temple,
He takes His terms from thence, even from the Temple.

The figure But He doth, as I may say, solvere Templum hoc, loose and

^^ undo this term for us ; for within a verse we are told, this

Of the Resun^ection, 345

Temple is no other than "the Temple of His body." Now the joh. 2. 21.
•est follows of itself. The solvite is a taking Him in sunder^
His soul from His body; the excitabo is the setting them
uOgether, and raising them up again. And both these " within
three days," the only word in the text wherein there is no
Bgure.

And this now was His sign, and a great sign it was. Great, How a
even in their sense if it had been but of the pile of building, ^J^ ^^ge^
as they took the word Temple. But greater far, far another
manner sign in His sense, in the true.

For, as for that Temple, Zerubbabel and Herod had raised
it, and other great persons as great buildings as that. But the
Temple of the body, if that were once down, all the Temple-
builders that ever were, with all their care and cost could
never get it up more. Therefore in His, in Christ's sense, it
is far the greater sign, than as they fancied it

Indeed, so great a sign as he that was in hell fire could
not devise, nor did not desire a greater. If but Lazarus, '^ if Lu. 16. so.
but one come from the dead," then, then regard him; that
sign out of question. Why here is one come from the dead,
and this day come, and a greater than Lazarus. I trust then
we will regard Him, we will regard this sign, and not be
worse than he in hell was. Let us then regard it.

The ground of the sign, and of all here, is Templum hoc. The di-
About it two main acts, they shew forth themselves ; the ^^^^^^
razing of it down in solvitCy the raising of it up in excitabo.
These in figure. Answerable to these, this temple is Christ's
body. The razing it down, is Christ crucified and slain.
The raising it up, is Christ restored to life.

Of which two, to divide it by the persons, solvite is their
part, excitabo His. That, His Passion by their act — solvite;
This, His Resurrection by His own, — excitabo.

Now this He saith shall be done, and saith farther shall
not be long in doing, no longer than three days. And
within the compass of the time limited He did it ; for this is
now the third day, and to day by sun-rising it was done.

So upon the matter, there come to be handled these four 1.
points : I. That Christ's body is Templum hoc. H. The disso- il.
lution of it by death, in solvite, HI. The rearing it up again by III.
Hisresurrection, in excitabo. IV. The time to do it in, three days. iv.

346 Of the Resurrection.

S £ R IL By which circumstance of three days, and this day the

third of them, cometh this time to claim a kind of property in

this passage of Scripture. And that, two ways.

For first, at this feast were these words here spoken ; you
may see they were so, at the thirteenth verse before, at the
feast of Easter.

And secondly, at this feast again were they fulfilled after;
the solvite three days since, the excitabo this very day. So at
this feast the promise, and at the very same the accomplish-
ment of it The accomplishment once, the memorial ever.

Being then at this very time thus spoken and done ; spoken

here now, done three years after ; being, I say, spoken and

done, and at this time spoken and done, never so fit as now.

I. Solvite Templum hoc, Templum hoc, we begin with. It is

senses of & borrowed term, but we cannot miss the sense of it; for

J^l^**^ both are set down here to our hand, the wrong sense and the

Joh. 2. 20. right The wrong, the next verse of all, for the material

Temple. So the Pharisees took it, and mistook it The

right, the next verse after, for the " Temple of His body."

So they should have taken it, for so He meant it Ipse autem

Joh. 2. 21. dicebaty Sfc, " But He spake of the Temple of His body."

And He knew His own meaning best, and reason would

should be His own interpreter.

And this meaning of His it had been no hard matter

for them to have hit on, but they came but a birding, but

to catch from Him some advantage, and so were willing

to mistake Him. As this they caught as an advantage we

Mat. 26. 61. see, and laid it up for a rainy day, and three years after out

* they came with it, and framed an indictment ufK)n it, as

if He had meant to have destroyed their Temple.

ThePhari- But was it likely, or could it once be imagined. He meant

couM^nor to destroy it ? It was God^s house. And " the zeal of God's

Joh 2^17 ^o^se," but even a verse before " consumed Him." And

doth His zeal now, like the zeal of our times, consume God's

house ? What, and that so quickly ? but a verse between ?

But even very now He purged it, and did He purge it

to have it pulled down ? That were preposterous. Now

it was purged, pull it down ? Nay, pull it down, when it

was polluted: now it is cleansed, let it stand. To reform

Churches, and then seek to dissolve them, will be counted

Of the Resurrection. 347

imong the errors of our age. Christ was far from it. He
:hat would not see it abused, would never endure to have it
destroyed ; specially not when He had reformed the abuses ;
and yet more specially, not even presently upon it, they
might be sure.

But that which must needs lead them to the right meaning
was, that these words, Templumhocy He could not say them,
but by the manner of His uttering them, by His very gesture,
at the delivery of this particle hocy they must needs know
what Temple it was He intended. It was easy to mark
whether He carried His hand, or cast His eye up to the
fabric of it, or whether He bare them to His body ; which
one thing only was enough to have resolved them of this
point, and to quit our Saviour of equivocation.

We will then wave theirs as the wrong meaning, and take The trae
it, as he wisheth, who " leant on His breast*^ and best knew joh. is. 23.
His mind, of " the Temple of His body."

But what resemblance is there between a body and a i-
Temple ? or how can a body be so termed ? Well enough ; a temple.
for I ask, why is it a Temple ? What makes it so ? Is it not
because it is Domns Patris Mei, as He said a little before, Joh. 2. 16.
because God dwelleth there? For as that wherein man
dwells is a house, so that wherein God, is a Temple properly.
That I say wherein, be it place or be it body. So come we
to have two sorts of Temples ; Temples of flesh and bone, as
well as Temples of lime and stone. For if our bodies be
termed houses, because our souls, tenant-wise, abide and
dwell in them ; if because our souls dwell they be houses,
if God do so they be Temples : why not? Why not? why
"know ye not this," saith the Apostle, "that your very iCor.6.i9.
bodies, if the Spirit of God abide in them," eo ipso, " Temples
they be" — such as they be ? But then they be so specially,
when actually we employ them in the service of God.
For being in His Temple, and there serving Him, then
if ever they be Templa in Templo, * living Temples in a
Temple without life.' A body then may be a Temple, even
this of ours.

And if ours, these of ours I say, in which the Spirit of God 2.
dwelleth only by some gift or grace, with how much better body a
right, better infinitely, His body, Christ's, « in Whom the '^^?X

348 Of the Resurrection,

SERM. whole Godhead, in all the fulness of it, dwelt corporally P

"Corporally" I say, and not spiritually alone as in us; by

nature, by personal union, not as in us by grace, and by par- |)^
ticipation of it only. Again, if ours which we suffer oft to
be polluted with sin, that many times they stand shut ap,
and no service in them for a long season together, how mocli
more His that never was defiled with any the least sin, never
shut but continually taken up, and wholly employed in His
Father's service ? His above all exception. His without all
comparison certainly. Alas om*s but tabernacles under goat-
skins; His the true, the marble, the cedar Temple indeed.
Christ^s body then a Temple.
,8.^ But a Temple at large will not serve. It must be Templm

body, "this hoc^ that Very Temple they took it for. .And so we to pro-
or*7&ii- c^^^ y^^ farther, and to seek a congruity of His body with
/*«» *«?• the material Temple it was taken for, to which there is no
doubt His intent was to resemble it.

The Rabbins, in their speculative divinity, do much busy
themselves to shew, that in the Temple there was a model of
the whole world, and that all the spheres in Heaven, and all
the elements in earth were recapitulate in it They were
wide. The Fathers took the right, and bestowed their time
and travail more to the point, to shew how that Temple and
all that was in it was nothing else but a compendious repre-
sentation of Christ, for Whom and in Whose honour was that
and all other true Temples. And this they did by warrant
Heb. 9. 5. from the Apostle, who in Heb. 9. aimeth at some such thing.
Christ's Now the points of congruity they found were many, they

Tempium may be reduced to these four: L Whether you look to the
in th^ u£" composition or parts of it ; 2. Or, to the furniture, and
vessels of it ; 3, Or, to what was done in it ; 4. Or, to what
was done to it, that is, what first and last befel it. In all
which they hold, that Tempium hoc might more truly be
affirmed of Him That was in the Temple, than of the Temple
He was in.

The last of the four, what was done to that Temple, what
befel it, and so what befel the Temple of Christ's body, that
I take to be most proper to this text, and to that we have in
hand. For to go through all four, would take up a whole
sermon. So I take myself to the congruity only.

Of the Resurrection, 349

Mark then what befel either: by that shall you best find
that fata utrittsque Templiy ^ the destinies of both Temples'
"were alike.

They began alike. The first news of the Temple was Ps. i82. 6.
heard ^'at Ephratah," which is "Bethlehem." So was it oif^^-^:\\

__. /. , , -TT 1 » [P8.87.6.]

Him, for " there was He born.

Like in their beginnings, and in their ends no less. I Like in
appeal to this text, and content me with those two He insists exdtdo.
on Himself. Both were destroyed, both were reared again,
that in all things His Body and His Temple might be
suitable.

That Temple was destroyed by the Chaldees : " down with 2 Chron.

. 36 19

it even unto the groimd.'' Imitated by them here : down p^ 137 7
with it, even into the ground.. For they never left it, till
they had Him there, past excitabo as they thought, past rising
any more. But as the Temple after it was so razed had an
excitabo^ was raised again up by Zerubbabel, so was this too. Hag. 1. 14.
Solmte took place, but there came an excitabo after, that made
amends for it. And as " the glory of the second house was Hag. 2. 9.
greater than the first," so the estate He rose to, far more
glorious than that He was in before.

And mark, I pray you, if these two were not to be seen as
brim in the little glasses about it, as in the great mirror itself.
For the Temple was as a great mirror, and the furniture as so
many little glasses round about it. Take but the ark, the
epitome as it were of the Temple. The two tables in it, the
type of the true " treasures of wisdom and knowledge*' hid in CJoi. 2. 3.
Him, they were broken first — there is solviie ; but they were Ex. 32. 19.
new hewn and written over again, — there is excitabo, *' The ^^' ^^* ^'
pot of manna," a perfect resemblance of Him (the uma or the
vessel being made of earth, so earthly ; the manna, the con-
tents of it, being from Heaven, so Heavenly ;) the manna, we Ex. I6. 20.
know, would not keep past two days at the most — there is
solmte ; but being put into the uma, the third day it came
again to itself, and kept in the pot without putrifying ever Ex. I6. 33.
after — there is excitabo, Aaron's rod, the type of His Priest-
hood and of the rule of souls annexed to it, that rod was
quite dead and dry, but revived again and " blossomed," yea Nu. 17. 8.
" brought forth ripe almonds.'' In every and in each of them
His destiny Whom they represented, solvite and excitabo in all.

350 Of the Resurrection .

s £ R M. But the end is all in all ; and in respect of that, of the end,

_— well saith Ambrose of His body, Vere Temphim in quo rws"

bro8. jn trorum est puripcati peccatorum ; * Truly a Temple He, no
Enar. 'circ. Temple ever so truly, as wherein was oflFered up the true
med.] propitiation for, and the true purification of our sins,' and of

us from them ; which is the end of all temples that ever were

or shall be, and was but shadowed in all besides, but in this

truly performed.
rseeLev. There, the only true holocaust of His entire obedience
^' ^'^ which burnt in Him bright and clear, from the first to the

last, all His life long.
[See Lev. There, the only true " trespass-offering" of His Death and
^*J Passion, the solvite of this Temple, satisfactory to the full, for

all the trespasses and transgressions of the whole world.
rsee Lev. There, the " meat and drink-offering^' of His blessed Body

and most precious Blood.

And the exta of this sacrifice, the fat of the entrails of it,
Lu. 12. 50. that is the love wherewith He did it, " the desire," the longing
Lu. 22. 15. jggj^g jjg jj^j ^Q ji; . ^Q^^ ^Y^2X, was the perfect offering, that

Col. 1. 20. ** set at one all things both in Heaven and earth." That
whatever was suhjigurd in Templo illOf was really and in truth
exhibited in Templo hoc.

And judge now whether the sign were not well laid by our

Saviour in the Temple, which was itself a sign of Him. And

Mat. 12. 6. whether as He said in a place, Ecce major Templo hie, so He

might not have said Ecce majtis Templum Mc, when He was

in the Temple ; * behold, a greater, a truer Temple now in

the Temple,' than the Temple itself.

IL Now to the second main point, solvite. 2. The saying it

the*8^ing. fi^st, the executing it after. The solvite, and the solutum est,

1. Solvite. 1. First, by solvite, that is, dissolving, is meant death.

loosing^ Cupio dissolvi — ^ye know what that is ; and Tempus dissolutionis

2 iSnI'/e' ^^^ instaty " the time of my dissolution," that is, my death,

" is at hand.'' For death is a very dissolution, a loosing the

cement the soul and body are held together with. Which

two, as a frame or fabric, are compaginate at first ; and after,

as the timber from the lime, or the lime from the stone, so

are they taken in sunder again. But death is not this way

only a loosing, but a farther than this. For upon the loosing

the soul from the body, and life from both, there follows an

I

Of the Resurrection. 351

miversal loosing of all the bonds and knots here ; of the
iather from the son, and otherwhile of the son from the
father first; of man from wife, of friend from friend, of prince
from people : — so great a solvite is death, makes all that is fast
loose, makes all knots fly in sunder.

2. And all this in natural death. But a farther matter 2. Soivite,
there is in soloite. For that is against nature, aliis solventibtiSy ^^ ®^*'
by the hands of other that are the solventes, them to whom

this is spoken. This Temple drops not down for age or
weakness, dissolves not of itself; others, they to whom solvite
is here said, they pull it down. It is then no natural but a
violent death, this. Well therefore turned solvitey "destroy
it ;" there is no destruction but with force or violence.

3. So violent though on theirs, as voluntary yet on His 3. Solvite.
part. Not against His will quite, not by constraint; for He ^^^ ^^^'
Himself That is to be dissolved, He it is doth here say solvite.

He could have avoided it, if He would ; He would not ; in
sign He would not, we see, Himself saith solvite. And solvite
He must have said. He must have said it, or they could not
have done it It had passed all their cunning and strength
to have undone this knot ever, but that He gave way to it.

4. Gave way to it, I say, that we take not this solvite other-
wise than He meant it. It is not of the nature of a charge,
this, nor we so to conceive it. Very expedient it is that we
know the nature of solvite Templum.

Solvite Templum is no commandment, be sure^ in no sense ; 2. Soimte
He commands not any Temple, not that they themselves no^om^*
meant, to be destroyed ; it were sacrilege that, and no better. ^^^^
And sacrilege the Apostle ranks with idolatry, as being full Rom. 2. 22.
out as evil, if not worse than it.

But indeed worse ; for what idolatry but pollutes, sacrilege
pulls quite down. And easier it is to new-hallow a Temple
polluted, than to build one anew out of an heap of stones.

And if but to spoil a Church be sacrilege, as it is granted,
yet that leaves somewhat, at least the walls and the roof, so
it be not lead ; to leave nothing, but " down with it," is the Ps. 137. 7.
cry of Edom, the worst cry, the worst sacrilege of all, and
never given in charge by God to any, we may be sure.

For God Himself said to David with His own mouth,
" Whereas it was in thine heart to build Me an house, thou 1 Kings

8. 18.

352 Of tlie Resurrection.

8 £ R H didst well that thou wert so minded/' ** Didst well ?^ well

— — ^ — done, to think of building ? then a sensu cantrariOf evil done

6. 8. to think of dissolving. And that which is evil Christ will

never enjoin.
i.To whom But what is to be thought of solvite Templum^ I would ha?e
Temahm jou to judge by these two, they be both in the text. 1. To
^ ■**^ whom this is spoken. 2. And what is meant by it.

1. To whom this is spoken. Distingue tempora is a good

rule ; so is distingue personas. Distinguish the persons then,

give every one his own, it will make you love solvite Templum

the worse, as long as you know it. Sohite ? To whom is

this spoken ? Who be they ? The Pharisees. To them is

this speech directed. That is made their work, work for a

Pharisee, to dissolve Churches. And so it was. For as hot

Mat. 28. 6. and holy as they seemed, with their " broad phylacteries" and

'*long prayers," our Saviour saith **they loved the gold of

M«t28.i7. the Temple better than the Temple.** So do their posterity,

to this day. To the Pharisees then with them, to their

PTheword marrows^ that would fain hear solvite given in charge. The

is used to Other person is Christ ; Christ's word and work both is exor

S^a?^ ^^ tobo; excitator Temphrum He, a raiser of them, a raiser of them

match.] when they be down, we see here. They will not let them

stand when they be up. Christ, He sets them up for His

part; when you will have them down, you must bespeak

some Pharisee, and they will do it, leviter rogati. For as His

speech to them is solvite etexdtabo, so theirs to Him may seem

to be, excita et solvemus. Set up as many as He will, they

will down with them ; first with Templum kocy then with Tern"

plum illud, and so one after another, if they may have their

will ; they lack but one to give the solvite to them, and to set

them on work. Distingue personas then, and they to whom

solvite is said, are but bad persons certainly, and fit for a bad

business.

What is 2. Will ye mark again, what is meant here by it, by destroy-

aotviie ing the Temple? What, but even the killing of Christ?

^"""p'^^ Now the suiting and sorting of these two thus hath but an

evil aspect neither, but this worse than the former though.

And I wish but this one point well printed in all men's

minds. Solvite Templum, quid vult dicere ? Solvite Templum,

id esty occidite Christum ; that he that goes about to ^ dissolve

Of the Remrrection, 353

the Church, it is all one as if he went about to make away
Christ/ One of these is implied under the other. Enough, I
think, to take off the edge of any that are glad to hear, and
ready to catch solvite Templum out of Christ's mouth, but
quite besides His meaning. For His meaning was, and it was
one special end of Christ's comparing His body to the Tem-
ple, to shew, He would have us so to make account of the
Temple, and so to use it, as we would His own very body ;
and to be as far from destroying one, as we would be from the
other. This may suffice, to let you know the nature of solvite
Templum once for all, that you be not mistaken in it.

3. Of solvite Templum I say. But now, to come to solvite 3. Soiviu
Templum hoc, to **the Temple of His Body." Concerning it, hoc!^^^
that it should enter into any man's heart to think, Christ ^^^^^
would open His mouth to command or to counsel His own command-
making away, that is, the committing the most horrible foul
murder that ever was — God forbid ! It was a sin out of
measure sinful, that, if ever any were. And give me any
religion rather than that, that draweth God into the society
of sin; makes Him, or makes Christ, either Author or
Adviser, Commander or Coimsellor, of aught that is evil.
Any, I say, rather than that.

1. How then ? if no command, what is it ? All that can But by
be made of it, say the ancient Fathers, is but either a predic- diction.
tion in the style of the Prophets, " Come down Babel," — that isa. 47. i.
is. Babel shall be brought down ; so solvite^ '^ ye shall destroy,"

to warn them what He saw they were now casting about, and
whither their malice would carry them in the end, even to be
" the destroyers and murderers" of the Son of God. Acts 7. 62.

2. Either this, or at most but a permission, which in all By way of
tongues is ever made in this mood, in the imperative. So we \\^^^
use to say, Go to, do and ye will, or do what ye will with my

body, when we mean but sufferance for all that, and no com-
mand at all. For all the world this solvite to them, as fac
cito to Judas after. Quodfacis, " that which you are resolved Joh. 13. 27.
to do," and have taken earnest upon iUfac, "do it," and fac
cito, " do it out of the way,^* which yet, it is well known, was
nothing but a permission, and not a jot more.

2. But should such, so foul an evil as that, be permitted ^e'^*"®*^
though ? No, nor that neither, simply ; it is not a bare per- greater

good.

A a

354 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. mission, but one qualified, and that with two limitations,—

Will ye mark them ? 1. For first. He would not sufier any

evil at all, least of all that, but that out of the evil He was
able, able and willing bolh, to draw a far greater good.
Greater for good I say, than that was for evil. And that was
solutionem peccati ex solutione TempJL

For we are not to think, that He would thus down with it,
and up with it again, only to shew them feats and tricks as
it were to be wondered at, and for no other end. No, the
end was the destroying of sin by the destroying this Temple.
It went hard, et vcb tibi atrocitas peccati, Tiostri, 'and woe to
the heinousness of our sins,' for the dissolving whereof neither
the Priest might be sufiered to live, nor the temple to stand;
but the Priest be slain, and the Temple be pulled down,
Priest and Temple and all be destroyed. But sin was so
riveted into our nature ; and again, our nature so incorporate
into His, as no dissolving the one without the dissolution of
the other. No way to overwhelm sin quite, but by the fidi
of this Temple. The ruin of it like that of Samson^s. That
Judges 16. the destruction of the Philistines, this " the dissolving of all
1 Job. 3. 8. the works of the devil." It is St. John^s own term, tit solve'

ret opera diabolL
Permitted, 2. But neither was this enough yet, neither would He for
M ^^^"^ all this have at any hand let it go down, but that withal He
meant to have it up again presently. Never have said solvite^
but with an excitabo straight upon it ; which is a full amends,
so that the Temple loses nothing by the loosing.

The world with us hath seen a solvite, without any excitabo;
down with this, but nothing raised in the stead. But that is
none of His ; solvite without excitabo, none of Christ's. We
see with one breath He undertakes it shall up again, and
that in a short time ; there is amends for solvite.

And so now with these two limitations, under these two
conditions — 1. one, of a greater good by it ; the other, of
another as good or better in lieu of it — may solvite be said
permissive; and otherwise not, by any warrant from Christ or
from His example.
2. Solvite, And thus you have heard what He saith. Will ye now see
the doing! ^Yiat they did, what became of this solvite of His? Solvite,
saith He, and when time came they did it. But He said

I

Of the Resurrection. 355

solvite, that is " loose," and they cried cruci/ige at the time, that
is, fasten, " fasten Him to the cross ;" but that fastening was
His loosing, for it lost Him and cost Him His life, which was
the solutum est of this solvite.

For indeed, solutum est Templum hoc, this Temple of His
body, the Spirit from the flesh, the flesh from the blood was
loosed quite. The roof of it. His head, loosed with thorns,
the foundation. His feet, with nails. The side aisles as it were.
His hands both, likewise. And His body as the body of the
Temple, and His heart in the midst of His body as the
Sanctum Satictorum, with the spear loosed all. What He
said thev did, and did it home.

Nay, they went beyond their commission, and did more More than
than solvere. A thing may be loosed gently, without any '^ ^^'
rigour ; they loosed Him not, but rudely they rent and rived
Him, one part from another, with all extremity ; left not one
piece of the continuum whole together. With their whips they
loosed not, but tore His skin and flesh all over; with their
hammers and nails they did not solvere, hut fodere His hands
and feet; with the wreath of thorns they loosed not, but
gored His head round about ; and with the spear point rived
the very heart of Him, as if He had said to them, Diianiate,
and not solvite. For as if it had come ^ laniend, it was not
corpus solutum, but lacerum ; ' His body not loosed, but
mangled and hroVen^ corpus quod frangitur ; and His blood iCor.i 1.24.
not easily let out, but spilt and poured out, sanguis quifundi-
tur, even like water upon the ground. Well is it turned
"destroy;" it is more like a destruction than a solution,
more than solvite it was sure.

Now will ye remember? This was a Temple of flesh and TheW-
bone, not one of lime and stone. Yet the ragged ruins of ^ifg xem-
one of them demolished will pity a man's heart to see them, ^^1^°
and make him say, Alas poor stones, what have these done !
yet the stones neither feel their beating down, nor see the
deformed plight they lie in. But He sic solutus est ut Se solvi
sentiret, ' the solution of His skin, flesh, hands, feet and head.
He was sensible of all ;' He saw the deformity. He felt the
pains of them all.

So saw and so felt as with the very sight and sense, iiie wi-
before it came, there befel Him another solvite, a strange one ; sweat.

Aa2

356 Of the Resurrection.

S £ R H. solutus est" in sudorem. the orifices of the veins all over the

- texture of His body were loosed, and all His blood let loose,

that He was all over in a strange sweat, stood full of great

drops of blood — a solvite never heard of nor read of, but in

Him only.

The to/wte And yet another solvite. For, that solvite Templum kdc

veil. might every way be true, in all senses verified, what time the

veil of His flesh rent, that His soul was loosed and departed,

Mat27. 61. at the very same instant *' the veil of the material Temple,

that split also in two from the top to the bottom," as it were

for company, or in a sympathy with Him ; that it was literally

true, this solvite^ and of the Temple that they meant. And

so, two solvites of both Temples together at once.

The great One more yet, and I have done with solvite, and that is a

His Pas- solvite in a manner of all, of the great Temple of Heaven and

t?^'«-, ci earth. For the very face of Heaven, then all black and dark

52. at noon-day yet no eclipse, the moon was at the full, the

earth quaking, the stones renting, the graves opening as they

then did, shewed plainly there was then toward some

Dion. universal solvite, some great dissolution, as the philosopher

[See Lard- then said, either of the frame of nature, or of the God of

ner's Cred.

Works,?, nature.

387, 8.] (^^g^ your eye thither, look upon that, and there you shall

see solvite Templum hoc plainly, and what it means. And it
had been enough, if they had had any grace, even to have
pointed them to the time when this solvite Templum hoc was
fulfilled by them. And this for both solvite and solutum est,
their part, which was His Passion, by their act.
ni. Now, to answer them two, to excitabo and excitavit, His

1. Ex'

citabo the part, His resurrection, by His own.

saying- ^jjj gj.gj |.Q excitabo. Hitherto we are not come, but now

we come to the sign, for the sign is in excitabo.

Et excitabo, " And I will raise it up." Which is spoken, as
it were, by way of triumph over all they could or should do
to Him. Go to, "dissolve it, destroy it," down with it; when
you have done your^ worst, it shall be in vain, excitabo illud,
my power shall triumph over your malice ; " I will raise it, I
will up with it again."

Excitabo But to loosc and to raise, these two are not opposite;

posed to rather, to loose and to set together again. Raising is opposed

solvite. *"

Of the Resurrection. 357

to fallings and resurrection to ruin, properly. But it comes
all to one. Upon the dissolving of any frame, straight down
it drops. This goodly Temple of our body, on the decking
and trimming whereof so much is daily wasted, loose the soul
from it but a moment, and down it falls, and there it lies like
a log we all know. In opposition to this fall, it is said He
'will raise. But He will do both ; as it was loosed ere it fell,
so will*He set it together ere He raise it again.

JExcitabo illud. Three points there are in it: 1. the act,
2. and the Person, in excitabo, and 3. the thing itself in illud.

1. The act. The word He useth for it, iyepA, in propriety Exdtabo,
IS a raising from sleep ; and sleep, we know, is lar irom from sleep.
destruction. It is to shew us first what a strange metamor-
phosis He would make in death, turn it but into a requiescet. Pa. 16. 9.
and a requiescet in spe^ and there is all. So made He His own,

so will He make ours. This day " Christ is risen again, the iCor.i6.20.
first fruits of them that sleep ;" and the rest " that sleep Dan. 12. 2.
in the dust," when their time comes, shall do the like.

2. To shew, secondly, they should miss of their purpose
quite. They reckoned indeed to destroy Him; they were
deceived, they made Him but ready for a night's rest or two.
They made full account, death had devoured and digested
Him too ; they were deceived, it was not so, death had but
swallowed Him down, as the whale did Jonas, upon the jon. 2. lo.
third day to cast Him up again.

3. To shew, thirdly, not only that this He would do, but
with what ease He would do it. With no more diflSculty than
one is waked up after a night's rest ; with no more ado than
a knot that is but loose and untied, is tied again.

But besides the act, we are to look to the Person in Exdtabo,
excitabo. It is not, Destroy you, and some other shall raise it; He almt^'
but I, even I Myself, and none but Myself, will do it ; nee self.
aliend mrtute sed proprid, * and by none others beside, but by
Mine own proper virtue and power.' An argument of His
divine nature. For none ever did, none ever could do that.
Raised some were, but not any by himself or by his own
power, but by a power imparted to some Prophet by God
for that time and turn ; Christ, by none imparted from any
other, but by His own from Himself. And let it not stumble
any^ that elsewhere the Father is said to raise and exalt Him ;

358 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. that is all one. Both will stand well. The same power the

— Father doth it by, by the same doth it He. There is but one

power of both ; of both, or of either of them, it is alike truly

verified. This for the Person.

lUud, Now for the thing, illud. Templum hoc before, and Uhd

Temp?™ hi ^^re : hoc and illud are not two, but one and the same. Not

substance, ggi^^n^ fiQ^^ g( suscitabo aliud ; * down with this, and I will

up with another in the stead.' No; but idem illudy 'the very
same' again. The very same you destroy, that and no other ^
will I rear up again. With us, with the world, it is not so:
when we fall to dissolve a frame of government, suppose of the
Church, it is not solvite hoc^ et excitabo illud; — no, hut excitdbo
aliud. We raise not the same but another, quite another,
nothing like it, a new one never heard of before. But
let them keep their aliud^ and give us illud again. Illud we
love, it is Christ's excitabo^ that; and if we follow Christ
in His raising, the same again, or not at all.
Not the But though illud be the same again in substance, yet not in

in qimUty. quality the same for all that ; but so far diflPerent, as in that
respect it may seem aliud^ * another' quite. At least well
may it now be called illud^ as it were with an emphasis,
as qualified far beyond that it was before, when it was but
Templum hoc. And to say truth, if it be but the same just,
and no whit better, as good save His labour and let the first
stand. For it is but His labour for His travel, if nothing
won by it.

But if, though the same yet not in the same, but in a far
Isa. 9. 10. better estate than before ; " cedar for mulberry, marble for
brick," as the Prophet speaks; then ye say somewhat, and
then we will be content to have it taken down.

And such was the estate of this Temple after the raising;

Hag. 2. 9. and such was it to be, for " the glory of the second house

was much greater than of the first." Which increase or

bettering is implied in the word excitabo. It is I told you,

a rising up after sleep. Now in the morning after sleep, the

body riseth more fresh and full of vigour, than it was over

night when it lay down. The Apostle speaks it more plainly :

1 Cor. 15. Templum hoc^ saith he, at the loosing it was " in weakness,

42, 43. dishonour, mortality;" Templum illud, at the raising it is "in

power and honour, and to immortality."

Of the Resurrection. 359

And sure, one special reason of the dissolving this Temple
Bf as, that, as then it was, solvite might be said of it, it was dis-
soluble. But being now raised again, it is faster wrought,
Indissoluble now ; no solvite to be said, not to be loosed ever
any more. This for excitaho illud. Now the last point, of the
time. The sign is in that too.

And when this? Within what time? "Within three iv.
days.^^ Which words seemed to affect them most ; all their u ^y^^^^
exception lay to them. He looked not like one that would ^^*'"
build Churches. But let that pass, were He never so likely.
He takes toosmall a time for so great a work as they thought.
But if we agree once of His power to raise from death, the
time will slide, we shall never stick at it much, but agree of
that quickly. He that can raise from the dead — ten thousand
Churches will be built one after another, before one be raised
thence — to Him Tqat is able to do that, forty -six hours are
as good as forty-six years, all one. Nay, even forty-six
minutes, but that it was held fit He should lie longer in
His grave than so, that there might be the surer certainty
of His death. Otherwise, years, days or minutes, to Him
are all alike. The sign is in both, but to say truth in
excitaho, rather than in the three days. For to the power of
excitabo, nullum tempus occurrit.

But why three days just ? Neither more nor less ? Because, Why three.
elsewhere he saith, no other time but Jonas^ that should
serve Him. No other than Moses' time, forty days, in His
fasting. No other than Jonas' time, three, in His rising.
Content to keep time with His Prophets before Him. Far
from the humour of some, that must vary — no remedy. If
Jonas three, they must four, or three and a half at least. If
Moses forty, they must be a day under or over, have a
number, have a trick by themselves beyond others still, else
all is nothing worth. Far from them I say, and to make us
fer from them; by His example to keep us to that which
others before us have well and orderly kept.

Now to the excitavit of this excitabo. Thus He said it 2. Ex^
should be, et fuit sic, ^' and so it was." He would raise it — the doing*
dixit; and He did raise it— factum est. His dissolution lasted
no longer than His limitation beforehand set. That was not
post tresy but in tribus ; not ^ after, but within the compass of

360 Of the Resurrection.

S K R M. three days.' And He came within His time, for this is but

'■ — the third day, and this day by break of day was this Temple

up again.
1. Our This then being the day, not only of excitabo but of

the»e"*^" exdtavit illtid, of the setting it up, accordingly we this day
fo rejoice. ^^ celebrate the enccBnia, or new dedicating of this Temple.
A dedication was ever a feast of joy, and that great joy.
Every town had their wake in memory of the dedicating
of their Church. That we then hold it as a feast of joy,
that we be glad on it; as glad, nay more glad to see it
up again this day, than the third day since we were sorry
to see it down in the dust. To solvite, "down with it,^'
Li^in.2.2.] Edom's cry, belongs Jeremy's Lamentation ; te excitabo^ this
Zech. 4. 7. day's work, Zachary's joyful shout or acclamation, gratiam
graticB, *^ grace upon grace," and joy upon joy, and thanks
upon thanks. Grace, joy, and thanks with an emphasis, for
it is now illud with an emphasis indeed.
For our But our joy will quickly quail, if we no good by it. I ask

Rom. 3. 2. then, what is all this to us ? And I answer with the Apostle,
By soivite, Multum per omnem modum. 1. For first, this solviie of His is
Prov. 6. 22. a solvite to us ; a loosing us, not only from our sins, " the
Jude6. cords of our sins" here, as Solomon calls them, but "the
chains, the everlasting chains of darkness" and of hell, there
due to them, and to us for them.
Byearci- 2. Then this excitabo is not to end in Him. What we
believe He did for that Temple of His body natural, the same
we faithfully trust He will do farther for another Temple, the
Temple of His body mystical. For His mystical as much as for
His natural, for whose sake He gave His natural body thus to
be dissolved. Of which mystical body we are parts, and the
whole cannot be without his parts ; every of us members of
this body for his part, every one living stones of this spiritual
rconf. Temple. Dissipentur ilia, restaurabit denuo, saith Origen,
ioc.f " * scattered we may be, He will gather us again ;' loosed. He
will knit us; fall down and die, He will set us together
Hos. 6. 2. and set us up again. "After two days He will revive us,
and in the third day raise us, and we shall live in His sight,"
saith the Prophet Osee, of us all.

And this is to us all matter of great joy. For to this solvite
Hcb. 9. 27. in the end we must all come ; statutum est hominibuSy " there is

I

Of the Resurrection. 361

an act passed" for the dissolution of these our earthly taber-
nacles. Loosed they shall be, spirit from flesh, flesh from
bone, each bone from other — no avoiding it.

All our care to be this, how to come to a good excitabo. 2. Our mo-
Good I say, for excitabo we shall never need to take thought ^* ^ ^'
for ; we shall come to that, whether we care for it or no.
But to a good excitabo, such an one as He, as Christ, as this
Temple is come to, that is, to a joyful resurrection as we call
it. That is worth our care, for in the end that will be
worth all.

That shall we come to, if we can take order that while we To make
be here, before we go hence, our bodies, we get them tem- tempiea.
plified as I may say, procure they be framed after the simi-
litude of a Temple, this Temple in the text ; for if it be solvite
Templum, at the dissolution a Temple, a Temple it wdll rise
again, there is no doubt of that

Our bodies, as we use the matter — many of us, are far from
Temples; rather prostibula than Templay 'brothel-houses,
brokers'-shops, wine-casks, or I wot not what, rather than
Temples.' Or if Temples, Temples the wrong way, of Ceres,
Bacchus, Venus; or, to keep the Scripture phrase, of Chemosh,
Ashtoreth, Baal-peor, and not Domus Patris Mei, as this here
He speaks of.

But if this be the fruit of our life, and we have no other
but this, to fill and farce our bodies, to make them shrines of
pride, and to maintain them in this excess, to make a money-
change of all besides, commonwealth. Church and all; I
know not well what to say to it, I doubt at their rising they
will rather make blocks for hell fire, than be made " pillars Rev. 8. 12.
in the Temple of God,^' "in the holy places made without Heb. 9.11.
bands."

Otherwise, if they prove to be Temples here, let no man
doubt then, let them be loosed when or how they will. He that
raised this Temple, so they be Temples, will raise them like-
wise; and that, to the same glorious estate Himself was
raised to.

A course then must be taken, that while we are hare, we do The moral
solvere Templa hcBc, * dissolve these Temples' of Chemosh and them. ^
Ashtoreth, and upon the dissolution of them we raise them
up very Temples to the true and living God ; that we down

362 Of t/ie Resurrection.

8 E R M. with Beth-aven, ** this house or shop of vanity," as by nature

they are, and up with Bethel, " God^s house," as by grace

they may be.

The moraL For a solvite and an excitabo we are to pass here in this
life, and this, this excitaboy is the first resurrection here to be

Rev. 20. 6. passed. '^ He that hath his part in this first, he shall not fail
but have it in the second .''

If then Temples they would be, that we so make them,
for to make them so is the excitabo of this life.

That they And SO shall we make them, even Temples ; and no way

tempiM. sooner, than if we love this place, the Temple, well, and love
to resort to it, and to be much in it By being much in it,
we shall even turn into it. And sure, if ever we have aliquid
Templi, * any thing of a Temple' in us, then it is when we are
duly and devoutly occupied and employed, they and we, in
His worship and service. Then are we Temples.

Temples. But to be Temples is not all, we are farther to be Templum

^^ hoc, « this Temple ;" and this was « the Temple of His Body."
And that are we, if at any time, then certainly when as if we
were Temples in very deed, we prepare to receive, not the
Ark of His presence, but^Himself, that He may come into us
and be in us ; which is at what time we present ourselves to
receive His blessed Body and Blood ; that body and that
Blood which for oiu: sakes was dissolved, dissolved three days
since when it suflPered for our sins. And this day raised

Rom. 4. 25. again, when it " rose for our justification."

Which when we do, that is, receive this Body or this
Temple, for Templum hoc and Hoc est Corpus Meum are now
come to be one, for both Templum hoc and corpus hoc are
in Templum corporis Sui ; and when the temples of our body
are in this Temple, and the Temple of His Body in the
temples of ours, then are there three Temples in one, a
Trinity, the perfectest number of all. Then if ever are we,
not Temples only, but Templa corporis Sui, * Temples of His
Body,' and this Scripture fulfilled in us.

This feast This are we when we receive. Now at no time is this act

a fit time « . . . ^, . , . ,

for it. ot receiving so proper, so m season, as this very day — so hath
Christ's Church thought it, and so practised it ever — the very
day of this His excitabo, the day of His rising, and by means
of it, of our raising ; our raising first, to the life of righteous-

I

Of the Resurrection, 363

ness, to the estate of Temples here ia this world, and after, of
our raising again to the second, the life of glory and bliss,
of glorious temples in the world to come, which is the exci-
tabo when all is done. What time they and we shall be
loosed as now from sin, so then from corruption ; and raised
and restored, as now to the estate of grace, so then to the
state of glory, and glorious liberty of the sons of God. To
which happy and blessed estate, may He raise us all in the
end. That this day was raised for us, &c. I

A SERMON

PBBACBSD BCYOBB THB

KING'S MAJESTY, AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE TUIRTY-F1B8T OF MARCH, A.D. MDCXVI. BE1M6 EASTES-DAT.

1 Peter L 3, 4.

Blessed he God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christy
Which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope^ by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead,

To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled^ and tliat fadeth
not away, reserved in Heaven for you,

[Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Qui secundum
misericordiam Suam magnam regeneravit nos in spem vivam, per
resurrectionem Jesu Christi ex mortuis.

In hereditatem incorruptibilem, et incontaminatam, et immarcescibilem,
conservatam in calis in vobis, Latin Vulg.]

[^Blessed he the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

To an inheritance incorruptible and undefled, and that fadeth not
away J reserved in Heaven for you, Engl. Trans.]

S E^ M. The sum of this text, and if ye will the name of it too, is
set down in the very first word of it. It is a Benedictus;
the first word is so. The first word Benedictus^ and if you
look, the last word is " for you." Give me leave to read it
'* for us," to put in ourselves, seeing to us and for us it was
written. So a Benedictus it is, from us to God, for something
coming firom God to, or " for us."

XL
llie sum.

Of the Resurrection. 365

Something ? Nay many. Benedictus is but one word, but
the first word ; the rest of the .words of both the verses, are
*'forus"all.

And many they are. We reduce them to three: 1. Our
regeneration which is past ; 2. Our hope, which is present ;
3. and our inheritance, which is to come. 1. Regenerating
or begetting, is of itself a benefit ; we get life by it, if nothing
else. 2. But to beget to an inheritance, is more than simply
to beget. 3. And yet more than that, to beget to such an
inheritance as this, of which so many excellent things are
here spoken.

Three then, in this: 1. To be begotten ; 2. To be begotten
to inherit ; 3. To be begotten to inherit such an inheritance.

But then, an inheritance is no present matter. All heirs be Tit 3. 7.
"heirs under hope,"tt5ywe durriy ** till the appointed time.^' So [Gal. 4. 2.]
comes hope in. Therefore, first ** to hope.'' After, to the thing
hoped for, the " inheritance" itself. There is a resemblance of
both these in the two seasons of the year. At this time, the
time of Christ's resurrection, and of our celebrating it, ** to
hope," as to the blossom or blade, rising now in the spring ;
to the '* inheritance"^ — that, as the crop or fruit to come after
at harvest, and the " harvest" of this crop, saith our Saviour, Mat.i3.39.
" is the end of the world."

We are not yet come to the point. '* Regenerate" whereto?
"to a lively hope." " Hope," whereof? of an "inheritance."
" Inheritance," what manner one ? Such as is here set down.

But all these whereby ? Per resurrectionem, " by the resur-
rection of Christ." All by Him, all by that. This "by" is
the main here. This Sta the Sea iraacov that runs through
all this text. For all arise from Christ arising from the dead.

Now if from Christ rising, then from Christ at this feast.
For this is the feast of Christ's rising, and so this the proper
Benedictus for this feast. We had a Benedictus made byLu. i. 68..
Zachary, St. John Baptist's Father, for His Birth, for
Christmas-day, known by the name of Benedictus, We have
here now another for His rising, for Easter-day, of St.
Peter's setting. And this it is.

For the order, we will put the words in no other, for we iiie di-
can put them in no better than they stand ; every one is in
his due place, from the first to the last.

vision.

366 0/ihe Resurrection.

s E R M. 1. ^' God" first, and the true God, '' the Father of our
— '—^ — Lord Jesus Christ" 2. Then **His mercy," the cause

moving. 3. Then "Christ's resurrection,^^ the means working.
4. Then " our regenerating" the act producing.

Producing 1 . " hope," first, of the inheritance ; 2. then after,
the " inheritance" we hope for. Of which, two points there
are: 1. How it is qualified; "uncomipt, undefiled, not
fading," — every one hath his weight. 2. Then, how seated;
even, " in Heaven :'^ there it is, there " kept" it is. And which
is the capital chief point of all, " kept for us*' there.

Now then for these. 1. For His " mercy," first. 2. For our
** regenerating by His mercy.'* 3. For the "hope*' of this
" inheritance," 4. but more for the "inheritance** itself specially
such an one, so conditioned as here is set down. 5. For
1 Pet 1. 4. '« keeping it for us in Heaven," in this verse. 6. For "keeping
us" for it on earth, the next verse. For these all ; but above
all, for the means of all, the rising of Christ, this day*s work,
the dew of this new birth, the gate of this hope, the pledge of
this inheritance. For these, owe we this Benedictus to God.
And this day are we to pay it, every one of us. It is a sin of
omission not to do it ; he that doth not, is a debtor.

To God the Father, the Qui; and to Christ our Lord, the
per Queniy by TThom and by Whose rising, lose this life when
we will, we have hope of a better ; betide our inheritance on
earth what shall, we have another "kept for us in Heaven/
Thus, every one naturally ariseth out of other.

1. " Blessed be God." Yea, blessed, and thanked, and praised;
Bene- Benedictus, magnijicaty jubilate^ and all. All ; but here ** bless-
Blessed be ^^" ^"'^ hesX, — that the best and most proper return for a
i^t 3 9 ^'^^'"o- That we " inherit," is the " blessing ;" the hope is
Tit. 2. 1*3. a " blessed hope ;" but the " inheritance" is the state of blessed-

2. ness itself. Therefore, Benedictus bene dicitur, Benedictus is
God. * * said well. Said well of God, " Who is above all blessed for

ever:" well also of a Father, Benedictus a fit term for him.

And God, in the tenor of this whole text, is brought in as a

" Father," " a Father begetting ;" begetting us first by nature,

begetting us again in it by grace.
Bie«s God But thereby hangs a scruple, for what are we that we should

take upon us to bless God ? St. Peter says it here ; St. Paul
Heb. 7. 7. seems to gainsay it. " Without all question," saith he, " the

Of the Resurrection. 367

less is blessed by the greater." And is He less, or we greater,
that we should oflFer to bless Him ? And if not as *' God,'*
not as a " Father,^' the next word. For, shall the child pre-
sume to bless his father? It becomes him not. He us then,
and not we Him.

Yes, He us, and we Him too. We have so many texts for
it, I make no doubt but there is blessing both ways. Of the
many, I remember that one of St. Paul's Benedictus Detis Qui Eph. i. 3.
benedixit no.% " Blessed be God for blessing us." As if they
were reciprocal, these ; one the echo, the reflection of the
other. Equal they are not. It were fond to imagine the
father gives the child no other blessing, but the child can give
him as good again. No : aliter nos Deum^ aliter Deus nos ;
otherwise God blesseth us, and the parent who represents
God in begetting our bodies, and the Priest who represents
Him, in begetting again our souls. Otherwise, we them.
God's is real, ours but verbal. His cum effectUy ever; ours,
if it be but cum effectUy that is all. His operative, ours but
optative. What then? he that wisheth heartily, would do
more than wish if his power were according. Even that
then, in want of power to shew a good will, I know not how,
but we take it well ever. God doth I am sure, as appeareth
by the goat^s hair of the Old Testament, and by the widow's
mites in the New. And this is St. Peter's, but expressing a
good mind only. And without all question thus, the greater
may be blessed even of the less; not tanquam potestatem
habenSf but tanquam vota faciens. So we may say Benedictus
DeuSy and let us then say it. *

What say we then, when we say Benedictus 9 It is a word How we
compound. Take it in sunder, and dicere is to say somewhat, God.
to speak, and that we can ; and bene is, speaking to speak
well, and that we ought. To speak is confession, to speak
well is praise ; and praise becometh Him, and us to give it
Him.

Put together in one word, and then benedicere * to bless,' in
the phrase of ours and of all tongues else, is not so much
omnia bona dicere^ * to speak all good of Him,' as omnia bona
voverey *to wish all good to Him.' And that becomes Him
too ; not only laus but votum, specially, where votum is totum^
where we have little else left us but it.

368

Of the Resurrection.

In Hifi
Name.

In His
Word.

InHifi
Pewon
Aft united
to HiR
Church.

1

8 R R M. And what crood can we wish Him that He hath not?

XI

'■ — Bonorum nostrorum non egety saith the Psalmist, nor Benedk-

tionum neither. We can add nothing to Him by our Bene-
dictus ; say we it, say we it not, He is blessed alike.

True ; to Him we cannot wish — not to His person, but to
His Name we can, and He is blessed when His Name is
blessed; we can wish His Name more blessedly used, and
not in cursing and cursed oaths, as daily we hear it.

And to His Word we can, we can wish it morejlevoutly
heard, and not as a few strains of wit, as our manner is.

Yea, even to His Person we can. There is a way to do ,
that, inasmuch as He and His Church are now grown into I
one, make but one person ; what is said or done to it, is said
or done to Himself. Bless it, and He is blessed.

In a word then, to bless God is to wish His Name may be
glorious ; to wish His Word may be prosperous ; to wish His
Church may be happy. By wearing of which Name,*and by
hearing of which word, and by being in, and of which Church,
we receive the blessing here upon earth that shall make us for
ever blessed in Heaven. This we say, if we mark what we
say, when we say, *' Blessed be God."
«God, and " God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" This is
of ou^r LoM ^^y^^ novoy the style of the New Testament ; ye read it not
Sist" ^^ ^^^ ^'^' "^* ^^^ ^" Zachary's neither. Between that of
'Hie style Zachary's, and this of St. Peter's, it fell out, this. The sun
New Tes- was yet under the horizon when Zachary made his, but now up
1 cIt. i. 3. ^"d of a good height. And thereupon, this taken up by St Peter
Eph. 1. 3. here; by St. Paul, 1 Cor. 1. Ephes. 1. and upon great reason.
1. To sever 1. ^'Blessed be God." Say that, and no more, and never
all fai^"* a Jew, Turk, or Pagan, but will say as much. ** Blessed be
^^"^^ God," we ; *' blessed be " God," they. It is never the worse
for that. But yet, seeing the world then was, still is, full of
1 Cor. 8.5. « many gods," and "many lords," it would be known which
God. For we would not bestow our Benedictus upon any but
the true God ; neither they, nor we, I dare say. Which is
then the true God? Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi; and
he that is not so, is a false feigned God, is an idol. Put them
to it then, put this addition to, and neither Turk, Jew, nor
Pagan will say after you ; none but the Christian. For this
is the Christian man's Benedictus.

Of the Resurrection, 369

Now ever since idolatry first took head, it hath been held
fit, they that are God's chosen people of all the people upon
earth, they should have some mark of severance to distinguish,
as theirs the true God, so themselves the true worshippers
firom the false. So to settle our Benedictus right upon the
right God, this is added.

2. For this cause, but not for this alone. When we bless 2. As Hia
Him, I dare say we would bless Him with His best title, g^ ®8t u e.
hath it been ever. You shall observe in titles ever, upon the
coming of a greater the less is laid down. " No more, The Jer.28.7,8.
Lord liveth That brought thee out of Egypt, but. The Lord
liveth That brought thy captivity from the North." And now
no more that neither, for here is one that after it came puts
them down all, as being indeed the greatest of them all, the
greatest that ever was, or that ever shall be. One, which
when we add, we set our Benedictus at the highest.

For, if this be to be God, to be bounteous, beneficial, as we
seem to think, when we say homo homini Deusy in nothing
was God ever so beneficial, so bounteous, and so in nothing
ever so God, as in " sending His only-begotten Son into the Job. 8. 16.
world.'' In that God specially, and for that specially to be
"blessed." And because a greater than His Son He hath
not, and so a greater than This shall never come, therefore this
shall never be laid down. This shall be His title for ever,
for ever to have a place, and a chief place, in our Benedictus.

And yet there is another, on Christ's behalf — " our Lord ;" 8- To bring
even to bring Him in too. For, seeing all that which follows too.
comes not but by the rising of Christ, and so by Christ, I see
not how well we can leave Him out. All the good that comes
to us, as it comes to us from God, so it comes to us by
Christ. God the Quiy Christ xheper Quern, God the cause —
from Him cometh all, Christ and all. Christ the means — by
Him cometh all, God and all. All things firom God, and
nothing from God immediately, but mediante Christo, He
the cause mediate, the Mediator, the Medium. No Benefac-
tusy and so no Benedictusy without Him.

This is most plain in this here. Benedictus Deus Qui
generavit Christum, first, 'That did generate Christ,' before
Benedictus Deus Qui regeneravit nos, " that did regenerate us."
If He not generate, we not regenerate; then no children^

Bb

370

Of the Resurrection.

SERM.
XL

1 2 Cor. 1.

20.]

Ps. 110. 1.

8.
The cause
why.

l."Mercy."

"Hisa-
bundant,
or great
mercy."

His

manifold

mercy.

then no inheritance, then all this text void. For in Him this
text, and all other texts are " yea and Amen."

By this time we see why this addition. 1. It is His title
of severance; 2. It is the highest title of His honour; 3. It
takes in Christ Who would not be left out in our Benedictus.
Dixit Dominus Domino meoy ** the Lord said to my Lord,*' to
take both Lords in, and leave neither out. And so shall we
knit it well to that which follows.

From the party whom, we pass to the cause why. For we
say not this Benedictus, as we say many an one here, without
any cause, Benedictus for nothing ; nay, otherwhile a Bene-
dictus for a malefactusy for a shrewd turn ; yea, and glad and
fain too. No, here is a Qui^ and in this Qui there is a quia.
That doth it, that is, for doing it ; " that regenerates us," that
is, for regenerating us, for God is ever aforehand with us.
Regeneravit is the preter ; that is past before any Benedictus
can come from us.

Pater Qui Regeneravit follows well, is kindly. For genera-*
tion, it is actus paternus^ ' the proper act of a father.' But
before we come to it, let us not stride over that which in
the text stands before it — secundum misericordiam, God did
this, did all that follows, but upon what motive ? " Accord-
ing to" what did He it? "According to His mercy." And
mercy accords well with a Father ; no compassion, no bowels
like his. And as well with regeneravit^ for "of His own
good- will begat He us.'' How else ? when as yet we were
not, what should move Him but His mere mercy? Well
therefore said, regeneravit secundum; for regeneration is but
secundum, but "a second," not a first. Would ye have aj»n-
mum, * a first' for it ? that first is His mercy ever.

But the benefits ensuing are too great to run in the common
current of mercy. As they then are, so is the mercy that
goes to them. "Great:" therefore "according to His great
mercy." "Mercy" the thing, "great" the measure. And
" great" would not be passed by, lest we pass not greatly by
it ; lest we conceive and count of it, as but of some ordinary
matter.

But indeed woXif is rather mutta, than magna ; a word of
number, rather than magnitude. The meaning is; no single
mercy would do it — no, diough great, there must be iQany«

Of the Resurrection. 37 1

For many the defects to be removed, many the sins to be
forgiven, many the perfections to be attained; therefore,
" according to His manifold mercy."

'^ According" is well said. For that indeed is the chord,
to which this and all our Benedictusses are to be tuned. That
the centre, from which all the lines are drawn. The line of
Christ's birth in Zachary's Benedictus^ '^ through the tender Lu. i. 78.
mercies of our God, whereby the Day-spring from on high
did" lately " visit us." The line of Christ's resurrection, in
St. Peter's Benedictus, " according to His manifold mercies,"
whereby this Day-spring from on high doth now visit us.
The line of all the rest, if we had time to go through all
the rest.

At all times mercy cometh in, at no time out of time
I trust, we shall die with it in our mouths. Let us make
much of it while we live, never pass by it but say it, say it as
oft as we can; *' blessed be God," blessed be His mercy.
"God" that doth it; "His mercy, according to" which He
doth it. Doth it, and doth all else, at this and all other
feasts; at Easter, at Christmas, the Fifth of November, and
all. "Blessed be He for His mercy; yea, many times
blessed for His manifold mercies."

'* Mercy" then first ; regeneravit secundum^ the act of this 4.
mercy the second, that is regeneravit. Regeneravit may be ^^^"'
said with reference to Christ. Generavit Christum, reqene- ?• ^^}^

, ' ;/ begotten

ravit noSf and not amiss. But better and more properly, us again.
both to us. Generavit nos^ ^ begot us' first in Adam to this ;
regeneravit nos, * begot us again' in Christ, the second Adam,
to the hope of a better life.

But why is it not so then. Qui generavit viiihout re? Why
begin we not with that ? Verily, even for that, even for our
natural generation, we owe Him a Benedictus. But what
should I say ? Unless, beside our first generavit, we be so
happy as to have our part in this second regeneravit, the
former I doubt will hardly prove worth a Benedictus. But if
this come to it, then for both a benedictus indeed. Otherwise
as our Saviour said to Nicodemus, "no man, unless he beJoh. 3. 3.
thus born again,^^ by his first birth, be it never so high or
noble, is a whit the nearer this inheritance following. For all
our goodly generavit we so much boast of, it would go

Bb2

372 Of the Resurrection.

S £ R M. wrong with us but for this. Well therefore may we all say,

■ — Benedictus Qui regeneravit.

"Again," Now re hath in it two powers, re is 'again, the second
second time ;' so it suits well with secundum^ it is the second. For
^™®' two there be : 1 . that old creation, 2. and the "new creature" in
* Christ. And two births ; — we see it daily. A child is brought
into the world, but it is carried out again to the Church,
there to be bom and brought forth anew, by the Sacrament
of Regeneration.
"Again," But re is not only again, but again, as it were, upon a loss,
upon a Not a second only, but a second upon the failing of the first
'*^"* So doth re imply ever. Re-demption, a buying again upon a

former aliening. Re-conciliation, upon a former falling out
Re-stitution, upon a former attainder. Re-surrection, upon a
fall taken formerly. Re-generation, upon a former de-gene-
rating from our first estate.

Our first would not serve, it was corrupt, it was defiled, it
Eph.2. 3. did degenerate. Degenerating made its Jilios irtB ; and ira
Prov.16.14. principis, much more ira Dei, mors est So children of death,
death and damnation ; and there left us, and all by means of
the corruption and soil of our former degenerate generation.
Never ask then Quid opus est re ? Re cannot be spared.
There was more than need of a new, a second, a regenera-
tion, to make us children of grace again, and so of life;
Tit. 3. 5. which He hath given us power to be made " by the washing
Zech. 13. 1. of the new birth," " the fountain which He hath opened to
the House of Israel for sin and uncleanness" — even for the sin
and uncleanness of the first. Will ye have it plainly? Bene-
dictus Deus Qui generatos ad mortem^ regeneravit ad vitam ; or,
Qui generatos ad timorem mortis regeneravit ad spem vita. That
we, we that were begotten to the fear of death, or to a deadly
fear ; us He hath begotten anew to the hope of life, or " to a
lively hope."

This act of regenerating is determined doubly ; eh is
twice repeated. 1. "To hope" first; 2. then, "to the in-
heritance:" ye may put them together, "to the hope of an
inheritance." But thus parted they stand, because of our
two estates, to serve them both : 1. " hope" in this life, 2. "in-
heritance*' in that to come ; " hope" while here in state of
grace, " inheritance" when there in state of glory.

Of the Resurrection. 373

But because, as we said, an ^^ inheritance*' is no present in $pem.
matter — it is to come and to be come to; from begettmg
we step not straight to entering upon our inheritance, but
the state of heirs is a state of expectancy, and so a fit object
for hope, donee, " till" the time come. Therefore we begin
with that, regeneravit in spem.

There needs no great Benedictus for in spem ; hope is no
great matter. For what is hope ? What but vigilantis som-
nium, ^a waking man's dream?' And such a hope indeed it
may be, for such hopes there be many in the world. But
this is none such.

To shew it is none such, it is severed by two terms;
1. Regeneravit, and 2. Vivam, They are worth the marking,
both.

1. Regeneravit first; that it is spes generata, which implies i. Spem
there is another but inflata, but 'blown into' us, or we
sprinkled or perfumed with it. Such there is, but not this ;

but this is per viam generationis, and generatio, we know, ter^
minaiur ad substantiam, ' brings forth a substance.' So this a
substantial hope, called therefore by St. Paul, " the helmet" of iThes 5.8*
hope, " the anchor" of hope, things of substance that will Heb. 6. 19.
bold, that have metal in them.

2. Then mark vivam. And vivam follows well of regeneravit. 2. Spem
For they that are begotten are so to live, to have life. Vivam

also imports there is a dead, or a dying hope ; but this is not
such, but a living.

Nay, viva is more than vivens ; '* lively," than ' living.' Where
viva is said of ^ught, as of stone or water, the meaning is they
spring, they grow, they have life in themselves. And such is
the water of our regeneration ; not from the brooks of Tema,
in Job the sixth, that in summer will be dry, but the water job 6.
of Jordan, a running river. There, Christ was Himself ^^g'j3
baptized; there He began and laid the Sacrament of our
new birth, to shew what the nature of the hope is it yields,
even viva, with life in it.

And indeed, regeneravit is a good verb to join with hope.
There is in hope a kind of regendering power; it begets
men, as it were, anew. And viva is a good epithet for it.
When one droops, give him hope, his spirits will come to him
afresh; it will make him alive again, that was half dead.

874 Of the Resurrection.

8 E H M. As Jacob, when he was put in hope to see Joseph alive, it is
' , said, Revixit spiritus Jacobs "his spirit revived in him;'* he
shewed, spes was viva, hope was a reviver.

Never so well seen, this, as this day, in them that went to
Emmaus. With cold hearts^old and dead, God wot, till
they heard the Scriptures opened to this point; and then,
Lu.24. 82. "did we not,^' said they, "feel our hearts warm, nay hot,
within us?'* Such a vital heat, they found and felt, came
from this hope. For, to say tnith, what is it to give life
to them that have it already, dam spiro, that are alive, that
can fetch their breath? it is not worthy, that, to be called
spes viva. Spes viva indeed is that which, when breath and
life and all fail, fails not; that that then puts life into us, dum
expire, when life is going away ; that, when this life we must
forego, bids let it go ; when that is gone, shews us hope of
another.

This is viva indeed. Nay this is vita, for the hope of that

life immortal is the very life of this life mortal. And for

such a hope, Benedictus Deus, " Blessed be God."

Vham,per And whcncc hath it this life? The next word shews it,

thnem vivom, per resurrectionem. The viveness, as I may say, the

OnistL vivacit}^ the vigour it hath from Christ rising, and by His

rising opening to us the gate of life at large. What life?

Any life? this life? No; vivam, per resurrectionem. Not

this here, falsi seculi vita, as even the heathen man called it,

but the other, the life by the resurrection, the true life

indeed. Not to live here still as we do, but to rise again

and live as Christ this day did. That so we mistake not the

life, and take the wrong for the right. For so shall vre

mistake in our hope also, as commonly we do.

For shall we do hope no wrong ? The truth is, hope hears

evil without a cause. The fault is not hope's, the fault is our

own ; we put it where we should not, and then lay the blame

upon hope, where we should blame ourselves for wrong putting

it. For if ye put it not right, this is a general rule: As is

Isa. 86. 6. that we hope in, so is our hope. " Ye lean on a reed,^' saith

Job 8. 14. Esay. " Ye take hold by a cobweb" — Job. " Ye catch at a

Kccius. 34. si^adow," saith the Wise Man. And can it be then but this

hope must deceive you ?

We for the most part put it wrong, for we put it in them

I

Of the Resurrection. 375

that live this transitory perishing life ; we put it in them that
must die^ and then must our hope die with them, and so
prove a dying hope. " Miserable is that man, that among Wia.13. lo,
the dead is his hope," saith the Wise Man, The Psalm best
expresseth it: "our hope is in the sons of men," and they Ps. 146.
live by breath, and when that is gone, "they turn to dust;'' *
and then there " lies our hope in the dust." For how can
ever a dying object yield a living hope ?

But put it in one that dies not, that shall never die, and
then it will be spes viva indeed. No reed, no cobweb-hope
then, but helmet, anchor-hope ; '* hope that will never con- [Rom.5.6.]
found you."

And who is that, or where is he, that we might hope in
him ? That is Jesus Christus spes nostra^ *' Jesus Christ, iTim. 1. 1>
our hope" — so calls Him St. Paul. Such shall their hope
be that have Christ for their hope.

Yet not Christ every way considered : not as yesterday, in
the grave ; not as the day before, giving up the ghost upon
the cross; dead and buried yields but dead hope. But in
Jesus Christus hodie, * Jesus Christ to-day,' that is, Christus
resurgens^ * Christ rising again ;' Christ not now a living soul,
but a quickening Spirit.

In Christ's life then, but not in His mortal life. They
that so hoped in Him, to Emmaus they went this day with
ivos autem sperahamusy " we did hope ;" " did" while He was Lu. 24. 21.
alive, but now, now He is dead, no more hope now. And
for two days, as He was, so was their hope, dead and buried ;
and if He had risen no more, had been quite dead for ever.
But this day He revived and rose again ; — so did their hope
too.

To this life we are regenerate by the resurrection of Christ ;
— right. As to death generate by the fall of the first Adam,
so to life regenerate by the rising again of Christ, the second.

And these two, resurrection and regeneration, match well.
The regeneration of the soul is the first resurrection ; and
the resurrection of the body, is the last regeneration. So
doth (Mir Saviour Christ term it : " in the regeneration, when Mat.i9.28.
the Son of Man shall sit'' — that is, at the general resurrection.
So was His own ; His resurrection, His regeneration. "This Ps. 2. 7.
day have I begotten Thee," the verse of the Psalm, the Apostle

876

Of the Resurrection,

S K R M.
XL

Heb. 1. 6.
Acts 13 Jd.

Isa. 26. 19.

La. 24.1.

2. Inhm-
reditcUem,
"To an
inherit-

ance.

n

applies to Christ's eternal generation. But so doth he to
His resurrection also, for then was Christ Himself regenerate
as it were, begotten in a sort anew, and brought forth out of
the grave, as out of the womb, the very womb wherein He
was born to the immortal, that is, to the true life.

'*By His resurrection." And if ye ask how, Esay tells us;
there goeth from His resurrection an influence, which shall
have an operation like that of the dew of the spring ; which
when He will let fall, " the earth shall yield her dead,'' as at
the falling of the dew the herbs now rise, and shoot forth
again. Which term therefore, of regenerating, was well
chosen, as fitting well with His rising and the time of it.
The time, I say, of the year, of the week, and if ye will, of
the day too. For He rose in the dawning — then is the day
regenerate ; and in primd Sabbati — that, the first begetting
of the week ; and in the spring, when all that were winter-
starved, withered and dead, are regenerate again, and rise up
anew.

We pass now to the *' inheritance." But as we pass, will ye
observe the situation first? It is well worth your observing,
that the resurrection is placed in the midst, between our
hope and our inheritance. " To hope" before it — before the
resurrection, hope ; but after " to the inheritance" itself, to the
full possession and fruition of it. So from the estate of hope,
by the resurrection as by a bridge, pass we over to the
enjoying our inheritance. And that falls well with the feast,
which is the feast of the Passover. The resurrection is so
too; pass we do from spes to res. So passed Christ; so we
to pass. Every word stands exactly in his place and
order.

An inheritance accords well with " according to His
mercy." We have it not of ourselves, or by our merits — by
the irdku of them; but of Him, and by His mercies, and the
irdKv of them ; else were it a purchase, and no inheritance.
It comes to us freely, as the inheritance to children.

Well with " mercy ;" and well with regeneravit For the
inheritance is of children, pertains to the children, either of
generation by nature, or of regeneration by grace. By the
former He is Pater Domini nostri, by the latter He is
Pater noster.

Of the Resurrection. 377

But yet for all that, ad hcereditatem is a new point Beget-
ting is, properly, but to life, and nothing else ; the greater
part by far are begotten so. To inherit besides, not one of a
thousand. Ask poor men's children, ask younger brethren.
But this here not in vivam only, but in hareditatem also, and
these are two. 1. To be begotten, vivam; 2. to be heirs,
JuBreditatem. It is not Lazarus' resurrection, to rise again to
the condition he had before. It is Christ's rising, to receive
**an inheritance" withal.

Nor shall we need to doubt any prejudice to God, from
"Whom it comes, by our coming to this inheritance, Vivam
and hcsreditatem, there, will stand well together ; here they
will not. Here the inheritance comes not but by the death
of the party in possession, but there, no prejudice to the
ancestor ; he dies not for the heir to succeed. There is sue-
cessio minorum sine recessione majorum, A succession, as of
lights ; the second bums clear, yet the first goes not out, but
bums as clear as it

Nor no prejudice to the heir neither ; to us by Him, nor to
Him by us. It is not as here, one carries it from all, and all
the rest go without; or, if they come in, his part is the less.
No; it is of the nature of light, and other such spiritual
things, as sounds and smells, which be omnibus una, et sin-
gulis tota. If there be a thousand together, every one sees,
hears, smells as much, as he should do, if there were no
more but himself alone. Such is this, not erga aliquos ves-
trum^ but erga vos.

And as we said. One thing it is to be born, another to be
so to inherit, so say we again now : One thing to be born to
an inheritance, another to such an inheritance as this here.
For in inheritances there is great odds, one much better than
another, even here with us; but this better, incomparably
better, another manner inheritance far than any with us here.
We would know what manner one, and St Peter gives us a
little overture, how it is conditioned, that we may know it is
worth a Benedictm, E theologid negativd he doth it ; there is
no other way to describe things to come, but by removing
from them such defects as, we complain, are incident and
encumber all we can inherit here.

Three they are, 1. Corrumpi, 2. Contaminari, 3. Marces-

878 Of the Resurrection,

8ERK. cere; ^corraption, soil, and fading/ to which noe nostraque^

— — — * we and all ours* are subject. Of which three, 1. Comiptioii
refers to the very being itself; 2. Defiling, to the sincere anj
tme being, without all foreign mixture; 8. Fading, to the
beauty, the prime and flourishing estate, that each thing
hath.

1. «<iiicor- The substance, that corrupts and comes to nothing, suppose
by death, for comiption is contrary to generation. The un-
defiled pure estate, that is soiled and imbased by some bad
thing coming to it from without, as it might be by infection
or sickness. And though both these hold, the best estate long
will not, but lose the lustre by and by, and fade away of itself.
St Peter enlarges this after in this chapter, taking his theme

iPet 1.24. from the voice in Esay forty. '^ All flesh is grass, and all the
glory of it as the flower of the grass." The grass itself lasts
not long, but the flower of the grass nothing so long as the
grass itself. Let there be no blasting to corrupt it, no canker
to defile it, yet of itself it falls ofl^, and leaves the stalk
standing.

It is now the time of flowers, and from flowers doth the
Apostle take his term of Marcescere. It is properly the fading
of the rose. Straight of itself doth the rose marcere, and the
violet livere, *wax pale and wan.' Their best, their flourish-
ing estate they hold not long ; neither the flowers that are
worn, nor they that wear them neither — they, nor we ; but
decay we do, God wot, in a short time.

And as we, so they; as the heirs, so the inheritances

iCk>r.i5.63. themselves. Their corruptible hath not put on incorruption
neither. They corrupt daily, we see, from one to another*
One man's inheritance corrupts, by another man's purchase.
To them that had them, and have them not, they are corrupt.
And not that way alone; divers other escheat for want of
heirs, confiscate for some ofiences, rioted and made away by
unthriftiness ; the heir stripped and turned clean out, the
inheritance wasted and quite brought to nothing. At least,
if not they to us, we to them corrupt, which comes all to one.

"Unde- But say, they stand and corrupt not, another complaint

filed

there is ; their soil, their fiiaafio^, is but too evident. They
soil us, their soil we brush off, wipe, rub, wash off daily ; in
summer dust, in winter dirt ; these, and sundry like inguina-

Of tlie Resurrection, 379

menta mundiy nothing in this region but subject to soil.
Why, the " inheritance" itself, we call it soil ; and how can it
then but soil us ? or how can there be here any undefiled
inheritance ?

But make them and keep them as clean as you can, take d. ** That
them even at the best, yet fade they do sensibly ; Jonah's not."
worm, once a year, bites them by the root and they wither. *^®°' ^* ^'
Every year at least they fall into a marasmus^ lose flowers and
leaves and all, till they be regenerate by a resurrection, or rise
again by a regeneration, as it were ; till this time, the time of
the spring come about, and bring them forth new again.

So whatsoever we here can inherit, is subject to one, nay to all
of these. It corrupts, takes soil, fades. Is it not so ? find we
not St. Peter saith true ? find we it not by proof daily ? One
or other, are we not still complaining of, specially of the
£suling? For though they fade not of themselves, yet to us
they fade. The fading to iis, even before themselves fade.
We are hungry, and we eat. Eat we not till that fades, and
we as weary of our fulness, as we were of our fasting ? We
are weary and we rest; rest we not till that fades, and we as
weary of our rest, as ever we were of our weariness ?

Yes indeed so it is, and that so it is, is the very faithfulness
of the creature to us. Thus by these defects to tire us, and
not suffer us to set our rest upon them, upon any inherit-
ance here, but to chase us fi-om themselves, and force us up
to God the Creator, with Whom there is " an inheritance laid
up,'^ in danger of none of these. But 1. " uncorrupt," that shall
bold the being, and none ever disherit or disseize us of it;
2. ** undefiled," that shall hold the assay, and never be imbased
by any bad mixture ; 3. and " that shall never fade or fall into
any marasmus but hold out in the prime perfection it ever
bad. And if there be upon earth a state like this, it is now
at this time. Now, all things generate anew; the soil of
winter is gone, and of summer is not yet come. Now nothing
&des, but all springs fresh and green. At this time here, but
at all times there, a perpetual spring, no other seasons there
but that. For such " an inheritance,'' " Blessed be God !"

But where may this be ? For all this while we know not «inHea-
that. Only this we know, wherever it is, it is not here — upon
earth no such seat. All here savour of the nature of soil, cor-

ven."

380 Of the Resurrection,

8 E R M. rumpif cantaminariy marcescere, are the proper passions of

— earth and all earthly things ; but " in Heaven" it may well

be. There is no contrary to corrupt, nihil inquinatumf
nothing to defile there. And there all things keep and con-
tinue to this day in their first estate, the original beauty they
ever had. There then it is, and we thither to lift up our
hearts, whither the very frame of our bodies gives, as if there
were somewhat remaining for us there.

It is thought, there is some farther thing meant by St Peter
— ^he writes to the dispersed Jews — and that by in cceh he
gives them an item, this inheritance is no new Canaan here
on earth, nor Christ any earthly Messias to settle them in a
new land of promise ; — no, that was for the Synagogue, ^t?
BvrjTtj dvrfToi<i eirrffiehXero Bvqray was itself mortal, is dead
and buried since, and so had but mortal things to promise to
her children whom she did generate to mortality. The
Gal. 4. 26. Church of Christ, "the heavenly Jerusalem," hath other man-
^Heb. 12. jjgj. q£ promises to her children, regenerate by the immortal
seed of the Word and Spirit of God. To them she holdeth
forth things immortal and heavenly, yea Heaven and im-
mortality itself.
« Reserved " In Heaven,^' then. There it is first, and there it is "kept;"
vei?^ the being there one, the keeping another. For that there it
is " kept," is happy for us. Earth would not keep it ; here it
would be in hazard, there is great odds. For my part, I give
it for lost, if in this state we were possessed of it ; it would
go the same way Paradise went. Since it would be lost in
earth, it is " kept'^ in Heaven. And a Benedictus for that too,
as for the regenerating us to it here on earth, so for the keep-
ing, the preserving of it there, in Heaven.
" For us." '* Kept," and " for us kept,'' else all were nothing : that
makes up all, that it is not only preserved, but " reserved for
us" there. As Benedicitis the Alpha, so this the Omega
of all.

But " reserved," as the nature of the word is, and as the

nature is of things hoped for, yet under the veil ; for spes qtue

Rom. 8. 24. vtdetur non est spes. But time shall come, when the veil shall

be taken off, and of that which is now within it there shall

1 Pet. 1. 6. be a revealing, as foUoweth in the next verse. And so all

begins and ends, as the Bible doth. As the Bible with

Of the Resurrection. 381

Genesis, so this text with regeneration ; as the Bible ends in
^e Apocalypse, so this here with a revelation.

Only it stayeth till the work of regeneration be accom-
"plished. Generation and it take end both together, and when
generation doth, then shall corruption likewise, and with it
the state of dishonour which is in foulness, and the state of
weakness which is in fading; and instead of them, incor-
ruption comes in place with honour and power. And these
three, 1. incorruption, 2. honour, and 3. power, make the
perfect estate of bliss to which Christ this day arose, and
which shall be our estate at the Resurrection. That as all
began with a resurrection, so it shall end with one. Came to
us by Christ's rising now, this first Easter ; and we shall come
to it by our own rising at the last and great Easter, the true
Passover indeed, when from death and misery we shall pass
to life and felicity.

Now for this " inheritance" which is bliss itself, and in the
interim for the " blessed hope set before us, which we have as Heb. 6.

18-20

an anchor of our soul, steadfast and sure, which entereth even
within the veil, where Christ the forerunner is already seized
of it" in our names and for our behoofs, for these come we
now to our Benedictus,

For if God " according to His manifold mercy," have done
all this for us, we also according to our duty, as manifold as His
mercy, are to do or say at least somewhat again. It accords
well that for so many beneficia, one Benedicttcs at least. It
accords well, that His rising should raise in us, and our
regenerating beget in us some praise, thanks, blessing at least ;
but blessing fits best with Benedictus.

First then, dictus; somewhat would be said by way of
recognition, this hath God done for us and more also, but
this, this very day. Then bene let it be, to speak well of
Him for doing thus well by us ; a verbal Benedictus for a real
blessing is as little as may be. For the inheritance which is
blessing, for the hope which is blessed, for the blessed cause
of both, God's mercy, and the blessed means of both, Christ's
resurrection this blessed day, " Blessed be God V

But to say Benedictus any way is not to content us, but to
say it solemnly. How is that? Benedictus in our mouth,
and the holy Eucharist in our hands. So to say it; to seal

382 Of the Resurrection.

S £ R H. up, as he in the old, his quid reiribuam with calicem sahttarUt

XI.

- " the cup of salvation," so we in the new, our JSenedidtu
12, 18. ' with calia? benediciionis, '* the cup of blessing which we bless
iCQr.10.16. jj^ jjjg Name." So shall we say it in kind, say it as it would
be said. The rather so to do, because by that ^*cup of blessing"
we shall partake the blood of the New Testament,'' by
which this inheritance, as it was purchased for us, so it is
passed to us. Always making full account, that from ^4he
cup of blessing," we cannot part but with a blessing.

And yet this is not all, we are not to stay here but to
aspire farther, even to strive to be like to God ; and be like
God we shall not, unless our dicere hefacere as His is, unless
somewhat be done withal. In very deed there is no blessing,
but with levaid and extensd manu, " the hand stretched out:"—
Lu. 24.60. so our Saviour Himself ^'blessed," The vocal blessing alone
is not full, nor the Sacramental alone without BenedictV9
manus, that is, the actual blessing. To leave a blessing
behind us, to bestow somewhat for which the Church, the
poor in it, so, shall bless us, and bless God for us. In which
2 Ck)r. 9. 5. respect the Apostle so calleth it expressly, evXoyiap benedk' 1
tionem, and by that name commends it to the Corinthians. ]
And that is the blessing of blessings, when all is done ; that
Mat. 25.34. is it for which venite benedicti shall be said to us, even for
parting with that here which shall feed, cover, and set free
the hungry, naked, and them in prison. That shall prove the
blessing real, and stick by us, when all our verbal benedictions
shall be vanished into air.

So for a treble blessing from God, 1. our regenerating,
2. our hope, 3. our inheritance, we shall return Him the same
number, even three for three. I. Benedicius of the voice and
instrument; 2. Benedicius o{ the sign and Sacrament; 3. and
Benedicius, of some blessed deed done, for which many bless-
ings upon earth, and the blessing of God from Heaven shall
come upon us. So, as we say here, Benedicius DeuSy ** Blessed
He," He shall say, Benedicti vos, " Blessed ye." The hearing
of which words in the end shall make us blessed without end,
in Heaven's bliss. To which, &c.

A SERMON

PBBACHBD BXrOBB THB

KING'S MAJESTY, IN THE CATHEDRAL
CHURCH AT DURHAM,

ON THE TWENTIETH OF APRIL, A.D. MDGXVII., BEING EASTER-DAY.

Matthew xii. 39, 40.

Bui He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous

generation seeketh a sign, but no sign shall be given unto it,

save the sign of the Prophet Jonas :
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's

belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights

in the heart of the earth,

l^Qui respondens ait illis, Generatio mala, et adultera signum quarit ;

et signum non dabitur ei, nisi signum Jonce Prophetce,
Sicut enim fuit Jonas in ventre ceti tribus diebus et tribus noctibus,

sic erit Filius hominis in corde terrcB tribus diebus et tribus

noctibus. Latin Vulg.]

[^But He answered and said unto them^ An evil and adulterous gene^

ration seeketh after a sign ; and there shail no sign be given to it,

but the sign of the Prophet Jonas :
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,

so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart

of the earth , Engl . Trans . ]

'^ The sign of the Prophet Jonas" is the sign of the Resur-
rection, and this is the feast of the Resurrection. Being
then the sign of this (east, at this feast to be set up ; signum
temporis in tempore signi, * the sign of the time at the time of
the sign/ most properly ever.

384 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. The words are an answer of Christ's in this verse, to a

XII

=r — '- — motion of the Pharisees in the last. They *' would see a

The sum. . , , *' ...

sign." The answer is negative, but qualified. There is in it
a nojiy and a nisi; non dahitur^ ^^none shall be given them."
Indeed "none should,^' they were worthy of none. Yet
saith He not non simply, His non is with a nisi — non dabitur
nisi; it is with a limitation, with a but, "none but'^ that.
, So tkatf so one shall be. In the non is their desert, in the
j nisi His goodness That, though they were worthy none, yet
gives them one though.

Gives them one, and one that is worth the giving. Put
non and nisi together, it is a non-nisi. If you speak of a sign,
none to it ; a sign, instar omnium.

This sign is " the sign of the Prophet Jonas." Of him
divers other ways, and namely this ; that as he " was in the
whale's belly," so was Christ "in the heart of the earth."
There they were either.

And that which makes up the sign, " three days" apiece;
three days, and no longer.

And then, as Jonas cast up by the whale, so Christ rose

again from the dead, and both the third day. So that upon

the matter, the substance of this sign is Christ's resurrection,

and the circumstance of it is this very day.

Thedi- We will divide it no otherwise than already we have:

1. into the non, non dabitur; 2. the nisi, non dabitur nisi;
3. and the non-nisi, non nisi signum JoncB,

I, The nony the denial first; non dabitur eis. And the
reason is in eis, in the parties. For they 1. an "evil, and

2. adulterous," and a 3. " generation" of such — three brands
set upon them ; m, " to them," to such as them, " no sign'' to
be " given ;" none at all.

II. Then the nisi; non dabitur nisi. For though they were
such as little deserved any, yet Christ of His goodness will
not cast them quite off. " None" He will give " but.'' So
one He will give, a sign they shall have.

III. And that no trivial or petty sign, to give it His due, but
in very deed a signum non nisi; non nisi signum JoncB^
that is, insigne signum, * a sign signal :' — mark them all, none
like it.

And that is " the sign of the Prophet Jonas," coming forth

Of the Resurrection, 385

of the whale's jaws, half out and half in. In which sign there
are upon the point three sicuts.

1. The parties first ; as Jonas, so " the Son of Man," that is.
Himself.

2. Wherein, the place. That as the one was "in the
whale's belly," so was the other "in the bowels of the
earth/'

-3. Last, in time. Either, "three days and three nights'' just,
and but three days, and then forth again. There they were,
and there both the same time ; the places diverse, the time
the same.

So Jonas, the sign of Christ; and the whale's belly, the
sign of Christ's grave. Jonas' three days, the sign of Christ's
three day^, 1. Good Friday, 2. yesterday, 3. and to-day.

Which three days, when we shall come to calculate them,
they will give us three stands, and make as it were three
signs in one, each day his several sign.

The letter of the text saith, there they were ; 1. we are
carried then to ask. How came they thither? The text saith,
there they were biit " three days ;" 2. we are carried then to
ask. How came they thence ?

1. Jonas' state before he came into the whale; 2. his state
while there ; 3. his state getting thence.

Conform in Christ. 1, Good-Friday, when as Jonas went
down the whale's throat, so Christ laid in His grave. 2. Easter-
eve, while there He lay. 3. And this which is now the third
day, when as Jonas cast up on dry land, so Christ risen from
death to the life immortal.

So have you, as in a sign, set forth: 1. Christ's death by
Jonas' drowning; 3. Christ's burial, by Jonas' abode there;
3. Christ's resurrection by Jonas' emersion again.

As ChristuB sepultus by JoncLS absorptus, so Christus resur-
gens by Jonas emergens. 1. Jonas' going down the whale's
throat, of Christ put into His sepulchre ; 2. Jonas' appearing
again out of the whale's mouth, of Christ's arising out of His
sepulchre. All in Jonas shadowed, and in Christ fulfilled.

In these three days these three signs, and in them three
keys of our faith, three articles of our creed; K mortuuSy ^

2. sepultus^ 3. and resurrewit, 1. Christ's death, 2. burial, and •

3. rising again.

c c

886 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. And last what this sign portends or signifies. That what-

— soever it was to them, to us it is signum in honum, * a sign

* '* boding good to us- ward/ a sign of favour and good hope

which we have by the resurrection of our Saviour. Specially,

if we have the true signature of it, which is true repentance.

[I.] To "ask a sign/^ is of itself not evil; good men, holy

of a 81^* Saints have done it Gideon asked one of God and had it ;

i^n da- jjg jg painted with the fleece, that is, the sign given him, in

Judges 6. his hand. Ezekias asked one and had it too : ** in the sun-

2 kings dial of Ahaz, the shadow went ten degrees back.^^ Yet this

suit here is denied by Christ, and Christ denieth nothing

that is good ; specially, not with hard terms as here we see

He doth.

The rea- Somewhat is amiss sure, and it is not in the sign or in the

Se m^rL*' ^^^^9 ^^^ ^^ ^> ^^ ™^^ ^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ®^^^> *^® SUltOFS

w^re. In three words, three brands set upon them : 1. " evil,"
2. " adulterous," 3. ** a generation of evil and adulterous."
They were 1. "Evil." There be marks of evil-minded men even in

**eviL"

Mat. 12.22. their very suit. They "would see a sign." If they had
never seen any before, it had not been evil, but they came
now from a sign; they had scarce wiped their eyes since

Mat. 12.10. they saw one, the sign of " the blind and dumb" man, made to
see and speak immediately before, it was spirans adhucy * yet
warm,^ as they say. That they saw, and saw they not a sign?
A little before even in this very chapter, a withered hand was
restored to another. What, could they not see a sign in that
neither? Go back to the chapters before, ye shall have no
less than a dozen signs, one after another; and come they

Mati2.38. now with a volumus videre f They would have that shewed
them that, when it is shewed, they will not see ; a bad mind
this, certainly.

Nay maii- 2. Nay worse yet ; for ye shall note malice in them, which

Clous y Jg ^j^g worse kind of evil. For if ye mark, this volumus of
theirs is with a kind of spite, with a kind of disgrace, to
those he had shewed before. They would see one, as who
should say, those were none they had seen, that was none
they saw, even now. Maliciously : if He shewed none, then
He was no body, could not indeed shew any, and so vilify
Him with the people. If He shewed one, then carp and
cavil at it, as they did at that even now ; say, it was done by

Of the Resurrection. 387

the black art. So cavil out one, and call for another, to
deprave that too.

3. Nay, which is worst of all, " evil and absurd" men, saith And ab-
the Apostle. When is that ? Vidi iniquitatem et contradict 2'1&T3;
tionem, saith the Psalmist; ye shall see how absurdly they^^^^-^-
contradict themselves. But even now they charged Him to
work by the devil; and here now they come, and would
have Him shew a miracle. The devil cannot shew a miracle ;
a trick of sorcery he can — such may be done by the claw of
the devil ; miracles not, but " by the finger of God," by fi u. ii.
power divine. Him then. Him Whom they even now had
pronounced to deal with the devil. Him come they to now
for a miracle. So absurdly malicious, as they cared not in
their malice to contradict themselves. To men so " evil,*^ so
maliciously evil, so absurdly evil, signum non dahitur eis.

Well, howsoever they might err that way, the men other-
wise to be respected ; they were so virtuous men, so straight
livers. See ye not their phylacteries, how broad they wear
them ? Nor that neither, saith Christ, but " evil, and adul-
terous** too. As of evil minds, so of evil lives too. Ye shall
come now to the uncasing of a Pharisee ; for Christ lifts up
their phylacteries, and shews what lurks under them.

For by " adulterous," I understand not as if He charged
them they were born of adultery, came into the world the
wrong way, the seed of Canaan and not of Judah; as having
nothing in them of the Patriarchs, so nothing less than their
children of whom they bear themselves so much. This is
adulterina rather than adultera ; * children of the adulterers,
rather than adulterous themselves.^ And that was no fault
of theirs, and Christ upbraideth no man but with his own
faults.

Nor I [understand it not of spiritual adultery, though that
way they might be charged, as leaving Him the true Spouse,
the true Messias ; taking no notice of Him, passing by Him,
went after such as had adulterate the truth of God by
devices of their own taking up ; not with idolatry perhaps,
but which is an evil, and differs but a letter, with idiolatry ;
for to worship images, and to worship men^s own imagina-
tions, comes all to one. That they were faulty of, and I pray
God we be free. But this is mystical adultery, and I would

cc 2

888 Of the Resurrection,

S K R M. make, as no more miracles, so no more mysteries than needs

'■ — I must

For my part I see no harm to take the word in the native
sense without figure^ for men given to commit that sin, the
sin of adultery. For, for all their deep fringes, all was not

Job. 8. 1-9. well that way, as is plain by John the eighth; where, not
one of them durst take up a stone, to cast at the woman taken
in adultery, but slunk away one after another, till there was
not one left. Christ toucheth upon that string, to shew what
heavenly men these were, that would have a sign from
Heaven, and none else serve them. Were not these meet
men to sue for a sign? Were not a sign even cast away
upon them?

"A gene- But this IS not all. For this they were, saith our Saviour,

ration" of j ^ '

such. not here and there a man of them, but the whole bunch was
no better ; not the persons only, but the generation so, not a
good of them all. And such you shall observe there be ; not
only such men, but such generations of men and faults-
suppose of lying, swearing and such like, rooted in a stock ;
kept even in traduccy as it were, and derived down ab avis
atavisqite^ * from the father to the son,' by many descents, in
a kind of hereditary propagation.
Prov. 30. Solomon in his time noted four of them : 1. One, a "gene-
^^"^** ration^^ unkind to their "parents,^^ and their children so
to them for it: 2. Another, "pure in their own eyes:*' 3. A
third of " high eyebrows :'* 4. A fourth, cruel-hearted, whose
" teeth were as knives" to shred the poor of the earth, shred
them small.

Such were these, and adultery made way for such. For
uhi corrupta sunt semina, ' where a general corruption that
way,' no good to be hoped for, the country will not last long.
By this Christ had said enough, and shewed that non dahitur
eis, is a fit answer for these.

Now, this ye shall mark ; the worse the men, the more im-
portune ever, and the harder to satisfy. They must have
signs, and signs upon signs, and nothing will serve them ; as
no less than four several times were they at Christ. 1. Here;
^at.16. 2. in the sixteenth chapter; 3. Mark the eighth; 4. Luke
Lu. 11. 29.* the eleventh. And still to see a sign. As oft as they came,
this had been their right answer; to dispatch them with a non

Of the Resurrection. 389

dabitur, and no more ado. Other answer let them have none,
even absolutely none at all, for none they should have had.

Yet saith He not, none they shall have. He will be better ii. ,
to them than they deserve; Christ will be Christ, redit arf qualified:
ingenium ; forgets now all He had said ere while. And "an *^'*'*»-
evil and adulterous generation" though they be, yet " a sign"
they shall have for all that. Not simply *' none" then, but
nan nisi, "none save;" the negative is qualified, so qualified
as upon the matter it proves an afiSrmative. The we« destroys
the ncm ; non dahitur nisi, that is, dabitur. So one they shall
have, though not now presently at their volumus, at their
whistling as it were, but after when He saw the time. And
though perhaps not such an one as they would have fancied,
yet such an one as they rather need, and would do them more
good ; that is, one for their want, not for their wanton desires.
And that is the reason why none but it, for no sign
needed but it. For without others, well they might be ;
without this, they or we could not well be. For oportuitLvL.2i.2Q.
Christum pati, "It behoved Christ, Christ ought to die," and
rise again.

None but that? Why afterward, between this and His
Passion, He shewed divers others; and how then saith He,
none but it? Signs indeed He shewed, yet not any of them
so pregnant for the purpose they sought, as was this. They
sought a sign of the season, as by the sixteenth chapter is Mat 16. 4.
plain, that this was the time the Messias was to come. To
put them out of doubt of that ; to that point none so forcible
as His death and rising again, figured in that of Jonas. That,
and none but that. All He did else^ the Prophets had done
the like ; given signs from Heaven, which they here sought,
yea even raised the dead. But raise Himself being dead,
get forth of the heart of the earth when once He was in, that
passed their skill, never a Patriarch or Prophet of them all
6ould do that; non nisi, none but He. So as therein He
shewed Himself indeed to be the true and undoubted Messias,
and never so else in any sign of them all.

For signs being compounded of power and goodness, not
power alone but power and goodness, that is, the benefit or
good of them they be done for ; never so general, so universal,
so great a good, as by Christ's death, as it might be Jonas'

390 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. casting in ; nor ever so great, so incomparably great a power,

^"' as by raising Himself from death to life, set forth in Jonas'

casting up again ; those twain, by these twain, more manifest

than by any another. The sign of the greatest love and

power — love to die, power to rise, that ever was wrought

This sign This fiisi then is a non nisi in a new sense, a none-such, a

JSITs^sign paramount. All else nothing in comparison of it I

mJunt. I'eep you too long from it.

The sign is laid in the Prophet Jonas, sicut Jonas^ and we
are much bound to God for laying it in him ; they, and we
both. And Jonas is a non nisi; such a sign for us, and
besides so many peculiars of Christ in him, as in effect no
sign but he.
For them, First, for them, for *'an evil and adulterous generation," no
peccator, sigu SO meet to be given as he. For Jonas, and nxm mi
Jonas, was Propheta peccator, * the trespasser or sinning Pro-
phet,* among them all. Sinners I know they were all, they
confess as much themselves ; but for transgressing the express
commandment of God, in not obeying God's immediate call,
therein none of the rest to be tainted, he only was Propheta
fuffitivus, fled touch, was in the transgression ; sent to Nineveh
and went to Joppa ; sent East, and went flat West ; and was
even taken with the manner as we say, and arrested in the
very flight. For " an evil and an adulterous generation" this
was a good sign say I ; and so might they, if they knew their
own good. For them and for us, and in a word for all sin-
ners ; for he is Propheta peccator, and so Propheta peccato-
rum. And Christ is pleased to pick out His fugitive Prophet,
I His runaway, and make him, a sinner and such a sinner, His
Rom. 8. 3. ; sign. As to come Himself " in the similitude of sinful flesh,"
/ so to make sinful flesh His similitude, to come into a sicut
with. All, that sinful flesh might have hope in the signatum^
in Him of Whom this was the sign. This, theirs, and ours.
For iw, The next is ours, and we highly to bless God for it ; that

gentium, being to sct His sign in a Prophet, He would do it in him,
choose him out to make him His pattern, who was Propheta
Gentium^ * the Prophet of the Gentiles,' sent to prophesy to
Nineveh that were heathen, as we and our fathers were.
And in that a non nisi too, for none but he was so, never a
Prophet of them all sent to the heathen; the rest to the

Of the Resurrection. 391

Jews, all. This sending of his to the Gentiles, was to us of
the Grentiles, "a gate of hope," that in former ages, and long Hos. 2. 15.
before Christ came in the flesh, we Gentiles were not for-
gotten. Even then, sent God a Prophet to Nineveh. And
what was Ninfiveh? the head city of the Assyrians, the
greatest monarchy then in being, and so the principal place
of all paganism. That thus in siffno, we were not forgotten,
a sign it was, no more should we be in signato^ but Christ be
to us, as Jonas to them, ^^a light to lighten the Gentiles,'* and Lu. 2. 82.
"His salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth." isa. 49. 6.

Let me add this yet more, to our comfort. This Jonas Primut
whom He thus sent on this' errand to the Gentiles, that was rum,
he ? Of all the Prophets, all whose prophecies we have re-
maining on record in the Bible, the four great, the twelve less,
of them all, all the sixteen, he was the first in time, senior to
them all. Plain by 2 Kings 14., that he prophesied long before 2King8 14.
any of them. For it is there said, that his prophecy came to
pass in the days of Jeroboam the Second, who lived the same
time with Uzziah in Judah. And in Uzziah^s time, the eldest
of all the rest did but begin to prophesy. So his was done,
before theirs was begun. Him that was thus first in the rank of
them all, did God send to us Gentiles ; to us first, before any
to the Jews. A sign we were not last — nay first in His care,
in that visited by Him first, as to whom He sent the first of
all the sixteen. And I may say to you, this was to them an
item, as if God were now to turn Gentile, as looking that
way, having a mind to them then even in Jonas' time ; they
to come in shortly, and the Jews to be shut out; and that, as
they had then priority in signoy so should they no less, in
signato, and " the fulness of the Gentiles come in" before the Rom.11.25.
conversion of the Jews. This to us sinners, to us Gentiles,
to us "sinners of the Gentiles,^^ was salutare signumy *a health- [Gai.2.i6.]
ful sign,' every way.

These three are put, on the by. In the main point of the
text and of the time, two more.

He, and non nisi, none but he, had the honour to be a i- .
piacularis hostitty as it were, for the casting him into the num non
sea served in a sort as a kind of * expiatory sacrifice,' as far ^ew/am
as to the temporal saving of the ship he sailed in. And'^*''***
therein as a meet sign he expressed Him Whose death was

392 Of the Resvrrection.

8 R K M. after the full and perfect '^ expiation of the sins of the whole

2. Then again Jonas, and non nisi, only he, ^as propheta redtr

^^'redi- ^^^^ > ^^^^ ^^ peculiar, above them all. He the only Prophet

w«». that went down into the deep into the whale's belly, and

came forth again alive. Dead he was not, but lege viventium,

* after the law of the living/ one thrown overboard into the sea

in a tempest to all intents may be given for dead, and so I

dare say all the mariners in the ship gave Jonas. That he

came out again alive, it was by special grace, not by course

of nature. For fi-om the whale's belly he came for all the

world as if one should have come out of his grave, risen again.

Among the Jews it goes for current — the Rabbins take it

up one after another, that this Jonas was the widow of Sarepta's

1 Kings son, the child whom Elias raised from death to life. If so,

^^* ^^ then well might he be a sign ; a sign — dead in his cradle once,

as good as dead in the whalers belly, now again. In both

resembUng Him Whose sign he was, if both be true ; but one

is most certain, and to that we hold us. And this is indeed

the main sicuty the sicut of the text and of the day.

8. One more, and I have done, and that is of the time— !

days and precise "three days and three nights;" for in this a non nisi,

niffhte ^^^ none but he so; just three, neither more nor less. Fori

in the ask, why not the sign of Joseph or of Daniel? Joseph was

belly." in the dungeon, among condemned persons to die ; Daniel,

Dan. 6. 16. i^^ t^© lions' den, as deadly a place as the whale's belly ; yet

neither of them made the sign of Christ. Why ? Joseph was

in his dungeon too long ; Daniel, too short — but a night ; not

long enough to represent Christ being in His grave. Only

Jonas' time, just. And the time is it here. Else might the

others have been his sign well enough, for the matter, if that

had been all.

But the time is still stood on, and the days numbered, that
His Disciples, that all might know how long He would be from
them, and not a day longer. And this, not without good cause.
This day was but the third day, and this day they were at
Lu. 24. 21. sperabamus, " did hope ;" did, but now do not, their hope was
fallen into a tertian, that it was time He were up again. This
sign set that they might know for a surety, by this day at the
farthest they should hear of Him again.

Of the Resurrection, 393

Of which three. To verify His being there three days,
it is enough if He were there but a part of every one
of them, for it is not three whole days. As in common
phrase of speech, we say the sun shone or it rained these
three days past, though it did not so all day long but some
part only of each. And if it rained at all in every of them,
we say true, it is enough. And so here, the first day of the
three, Jonas was in the ship, and Christ on the cross till
Friday, somewhat before the sun-set. All the second day
Jonas was in the whale, Christ in His sepulchre. The third
day Jonas came out of the whale, and Christ out of His
grave, as it might be about the sun-rising, for this day both
suns rose together.

To verify the three nights. That do we reckoning, as did
the Jews, and that by warrant out of Genesis the first, the
evening and the morning but for one; so drawing still the pre- Gen. 1.6.8,
cedent night, and counting it with the succeeding day. So do ^'
they still the night past with the day following, as in Genesis
they are taught ; and we doing so, it will fall out right.

To the sicut then of these three days. There is in each of Thewctrf
them set down a several state of Jonas, and so of Christ. three^dAvs.
1. Their going thither; 2. their being there; 3. and their
coining thence.

Thus fell it the first day. Jonas was at sea in a ship ; " a i. In thdr
great tempest came," so great as the ship was upon casting fhuw.

AWRV Good-

^^^J' ^ ^ Friday.

Of tempests, some are of course, have their causes in Jon. i. 4, 6.
nature; and in them art and strength will do good. With
Jonas here it did not prevail a whit. Thereby they knew it
to be one out of course, of God's immediate sending.

God sends not such tempests but He is angry ; He is not
angry but with sin. Some great sinner then there is in the
ship, and if the ship were well rid of him, all would be calm
again.

To lots they went ; Jonas was found to be the party.

Being found, rather than all should be cast away, he bid
frankly, tollite me et projidte, "take me, cast me into the sea." Jon. 1. 12.

Cast in Jie was, and the storm ceased straight, the ship
came safe home. *' And the evening and the morning were [Gen.i. 5.]
the first day."

894 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. Will ye see now what was acted in Jonas, actually fulfilled

■ — in Christ? But first will ye note that what is in the Old

Testament written of Jonas, is not only historia vera, but

Eph. 5. 82. sacramentum magnum^ not a bare story only, but beside the
story, pregnant also with " a gf eat mystery." Not only a deed
done, but farther a sign of a deed to be done, of a far higher
nature ; dico autem in ChristOy ^^ I speak it as of Christ" and
His resurrection. Of that history this the mystery, this the
sacramentum magnum.

Will ye note again ? it is on Christ's side with advantage.

Mat 12.41. Sicut JoTUU, saith this verse. But ecce plus^quam Jotum, saith
the next, and both may stand ; there may be a sicut where
yet there may be a plus quam^ a likeness in quality where
an exceeding in degree though. Indeed, sicut makes not a
non nisiy plus quam doth ; and we then so to remember the
sicut in this, as we forget not the plv^ quam in that No more
will we.

And now weigh them over well, and whithersoever ye look,
ye shall find a plus quam. Pltis in the ship, in .the tempest
in the cause, in the danger, in the casting in, in the coming
out again ; in every one, a plus quam. All that was in Jonas,
in Christ more conspicuous, and after a more excellent
manner ; in signato, than in signo. That so in this, as in all

Col. 1. 18. else, "Christ may have the pre^eminence.^^

To begin then. It is no new thing to resemble the Church,
the commonwealth, yea the world to a ship. A ship there
was, not a small bark of Joppa, but plus quam^ a great ark or
argosy, wherein were embarked all mankind, having their
course through the main ocean of the world, bound for the
port of eternal bliss. And in this great carrick, among the
sons of men, the Son of Man, as He terms Himself, becomes
also a passenger, even as did Jonas in his small bottom of
Joppa.

Then rose there a tempest. A tempest itself, and the cause
of all tempests, the heavy wrath of God, ready to seize upon
sinners, which made such a foul sea as this great ship and all
in it were upon the point of being cast away. The plus here

Mat. 27. is plain, take it but as it was indeed literally. For what a
tempest was there at Christ's death I It shook the Temple,
rent the veil, cleft the stones, opened the graves, put out the

Of the Resvrrection. 395

sun's light, was seen and felt all the world over, as if Heaven
and earth would have gone together. But the miserable
storm, then, who shall declare ?

And no marvel ; there was a great plus in the cause. For
if the sin of one poor passenger, of Jonas, made such a foul
sea, the sins of the great hulk that bore in it all mankind
together in one bottom, what manner tempest think you were
they like to raise ? In what hazard the vessel that loaden
with them all ! But one fugitive there ; here all runaways
from God — masters, mariners, passengers, and all.

Now the greater the vessel, the more ever the danger.
With Jonas, but a handful like to miscarry ; in this, the whole
mass of mankind like to perish. So in the peril plus too.

The storm will not be stayed neither, till some be cast into
the sea ; and some great sinner it would be. And here the
sicut seems as if it would not hold ; here the only non sicut
Jonas, For Jonas there was the only sinner, all besides in
the ship innocent poor men. Here Christ only in the ship,
innocent, no sinner, all the ship besides full fraught with
sinners ; mariners and passengers, grievous sinners all. Here
it seems to halt.

And yet I cannot tell you neither, for all that. For in
some sense Christ was not unlike Jonas; no, not in this
point, but like Jonas, as in all other respects, so in this too.
Not as considered in Himself, for so He knew no sin; '^ but 2 Cor. 6.21.
Him that knew no sin, for us made He sin.'^ How ? by laying
" on Him the iniquities of us all," even of all the sons of men Isa. 63. 6.
upon this Son of Man. And so considered. He is not only
sicuty but plus quam Jonas here. Morg sin on Him than on
Jonas ; for on Him the sins of the whole ship, yea Jonas' sin
and all.

For all that here is another plus^ though. For what Jonas
suffered, it was for his own sin, and merito hcec patimur might Lu. 23. 41.
he say, and we both with the thief on the cross. But Christ,
what had He done ? It was not for His own, it was for other
men's sins He suffered, " He paid the things He never took." Ps. 69. 4.
So much the more likely was He to satisfy, *' the just for the iPet.3. is.
unjust," the Lord for the servant ; much more than if one
sinner or servant should do it for another.

Yet was Christ, as was Jonas, content to be thrown in.

396 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. Tollite Mcy said Jonas ; sinite hos ahircy said Christ, ^^ Let these

- — -^— go." Take me, my life shall answer for theirs^ as it did. As

Joh. 18.8* content, said I? Nay, je?/?/5, *raore.' For with Jonas there was

no other way to stay the storm, but overboard with him. But

Christ had other ways, could have stayed it with His word,

Mat. 8. 26. with His obmutescCy as He did the eighth chapter before, needed

MaL SIR .

• not to have been cast in, yet *' to fulfil all righteousness,"
condescended to it though, and in He was thrown, not of

Isa. 58. 7. necessity as Jonas, but quia voluit; and voluit, quia nos salmi
voluity * would have us safe,' and His Father's justice safe, both.
Now to the effect. Therewith the storm stayed, God's
wrath was appeased, mankind saved: here the plus is evident
That of Jonas was but salus phaseli — no more ; this was sabu
mundi — no less. A poor boat with the whole world, what
comparison ? And the evening and the morning were Good-
Friday, Christ's first day.

2.Theirbe- To Jonas now secundo ; he was drowned by the means.

mg there. . . ••

Easter-eve. Nay, not SO, God before angry, was then pacified ; pacified,
not only with the ship, but pacified with Jonas too ; provided
a whale in show to devour him ; indeed not to devour, but to
preserve him ; down he went into her belly.

There he was, but took no hurt there. 1. As safe, nay
more safe there than in the best ship of Tarshish ; no flaw of
weather, no foul sea could trouble him there. 2. As safe,
and as safely carried to land; the ship could have done no
more. So that upon the matter he did but change his
vehiculum, shifted but from one vessel to another, went on his
way still. 3. On he went as well, nay better than the ship
would have carried hig^. Went into the ship — the ship carried
him wrong, out of his way clean, to Tarshish-ward. Went into
the whale, and the whale carried him right, landed him on
the next shore to Nineveh, whither in truth he was bound, and
where his errand lay. 4. And all the while at good ease as
in a cell or study, for there he indited a Psalm, expressing

Jon. 2. 2. 6. in it his certain hope of getting forth again. So as in effect,
where he seemed to be in most danger, he was in greatest
safety. Thus can God work. And the evening and the
morning were Jonas^ second day.

The like now in Christ, but still with a plus quam. Do
but compare the whale's belly with " the heart of the earth,"

Of the Resurrection. 397

and you shall find^ the whale that swallowed Christ, that is,
the grave, was another manner whale, far wider-throated than
that of Jonas. That whale caught but one Prophet, but
Jonas ; this hath swooped up Patriarchs and Prophets and all,
yea, and Jonas himself too. None hath scaped the jaws of it.

And more hard getting out, I am sure — ^witness Jonas.
Into the whalers belly he went, and thence he gat out again.
After he gat thence, into " the heart of the earth^^ he went,
and thence he gat not; there he is still.

The sign lies in this, by the letter of the text. And in
Christ the sign greater. For though to see a whale tumble
with a Prophet in the belly were a strange sight, yet more
strange to see the Son of God lie dead in the earth ; and as
strange again, to see the Son of man to rise from the grave
again alone. A double sign in it. rjustin.

" The heart of the earth," with Justin Martyr, Chrysostom, QuLtion.
Augustine, I take for the grave ; though I know Origen, ^d^rSio-
Nyssen, Theodoret take it for hell, for the place where the ^ox. 64.
spirits are, as in the body that is the place of them. And ^t^^gen.
thither He went in Spirit, and ** triumphed over the powers »" ^oc.
and principalities" there, in His own person. But for HisNyss. in
body it was the day of rest, the last Sabbath that ever was ; Resurrect.
and then His body did rest, rest in hope — hope of what? that 9'**-.i-

•^ . circ. init.

neither His soul should be left in hell, nor His flesh suffered g, August.
to see corruption. For Christ had His Psalm too, as well as ^p^®** ^^2-
Jonas. Daivid composed it for Him long before — the sixteenth xheodo-
Psalm, the Psalm of the Resurrection. And so the evening jj^^j^"'
and the morning were Christ's second day, Easter-eve. 3.]

Now to Jonas' ultimo. Jonas' hope failed him not; the pg. ig. lo.
whale's belly that seemed his tomb, proved his womb or ^im^ng^*"^
second birth-place. There he was, not as meat in the thence.

* ... Easter-

stomach, but as an embryo in the matrix of his mother, day.

Strange ! the whale to be as his mother, to be delivered of

him, and bring him forth into the world again. So forth he

came, and to Niiieveh about his business. Thither he went, Jon. 2. lo.

to bring them out of the whale's belly too. And the evening

and the morning were Jonas' third day.

Now the whale could not hold Jonas, nor more could the

grave Christ longer than this morning, after break of day,

but forth came He too. And with a plus quam, in respect of

398 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. Jonas. It was in strict speech with Jonas no resurrection,

— for the truth is, he was never dead ; never he, but putative.

But Christ was dead, stark dead indeed, slain out-right upon

Joh. 19.84. the cross. His heart pierced, His heart-blood ran out. And

Mat.27.66. for dead taken down, laid in, sealed up in His grave, a stone
rolled on Him, a watch set over Him. Made sure, I trow,
and yet rose for all that.

Another. Jonas rising, the whale gaped wide, and strained
hard, and up came Jonas. It was long of the whale, not of
him or any power of his. But Christ, by His own power.

Acts 2. 24. brake the bars of death, and " loosed the sorrows of hell, of
which it is impossible He should be holden."

A third. Jonas rose but to the same state he was in
before, but mortal Jonas still. When he scaped, he drew
bis chain after him, and by the end of it was plucked back
again afterward. But Christ left them, and linen clothes and

Rom. 6. 9. all, in the grave behind Him ; rose to a better, to ultra non
morietur^ never to die more. He.

And in a word, the great plus quam. Jonas was but gectus
in aridam^ but Christ was receptus in gloriam. And in sign
of it, the place whereon Jonas was cast, was dry land or cliflfe,
where nothing grows. The place wherein Christ rose, was a
well-watered garden, wherein the ground was in all her glory,
fresh and green and full of flowers at the instant of His
rising, this time of the year. So, as He went lower, so He
rose higher than ever did Jonas, with a great ecce plus
quam.

And yet behold, a greater than all these. For Jonas, when
he came forth, came forth and there was all ; left the whale

Mat.12.42. as he found it. But ecce plus quam Jonas Mc^ plus quam
indeed. Christ slew the whale that devoured Him, in the
coming forth, was mors mortis; He left not the grave as
He found it, but altered the property, nay changed the very
nature of it by His rising.

Three changes He made in it very plainly: 1. Of a pit of
perdition which it was before. He hath made it now an
harbour of rest, rest in hope. Hope of a new, not the same
it was before, but a better far, with a great plus quam,

2. Made it again, as the whale to Jonas was, a convoy or
passing boat to a better port than any is in our Tarshish here ;

Of the Resurrection, 899

even to the haven of happiness, and Heaven^s bliss without Acts 2. 2G.
end. This for the soul.

3. And for the body, made the grave as a womb for a
second birth, to travail with us anew, and bring us forth to
life everlasting ; made cor terrce ventrem cetiy * the heart of the
earth to us, as the belly of the whale was' to Jonas, which did
not still retain him. That did not him, nor this shall not us ;
shall not hold us still, no more than the whale did him, or the
grave did Christ. There shall be a coming forth out of both.
And when God shall speak to the earth, as to the whale He
did, the sea and grave both shall yield up their dead, and Rev. 20. id.
deliver them up alive again.

The very term of *Uhe heart of the earth" was well chosen.
There is heart in it. For if the earth have an heart, there is
life in it, for the heart is the fountain of life, and the seat of
the vital spirits that hold us in it. So there is, we see ; for
the earth dead for a time, all the winter — now when the waters
of Heaven fall on it, shews it hath life, bringing forth herbs
and flowers again. And even so, when the waters above the
Heavens, and namely the dew of this day distilling from Christ's
rising, shall in like sort drop upon it, it shall be, saith Esay in isa. 26. 19.
the twenty -sixth chapter, " as the dew of the herbs," " and the
earth shall give forth her dead.^^ "Dead" men, as it doth
dead plants, now fresh and green again in the spring of the
year. And so the evening and the morning were Christ^s
third day, this day, Easter-day morning.

Thus many ways doth this sicut hold, and hold with a plus
quam. Were it not great pity now that Christ Who is so
many ways plus quam Jonas, for all this should come to be
minus quam Jonas, in this last, the chief of all ? For this is
the chief. Jonas, after he came out of the whale, brought to
pass that famous repentance, the repentance of Nineveh.
At Jonas' preaching they repented at Nineveh, at Christ^s Jonah 3. 6.
they did not in Jerusalem.

We shall mend this, if we be as the Ninevites, repent as
they. As they ? Ahsit ut sic, saith St. Augustine, but adds
then, sed utinam vel sic. As they ? God forbid we should be
but as they; as Christ was more than Jonas, so Christians
should be more than Ninevites. Well, in the mean time, I
would we were but as they ; but so far onward, never plead

400 Of the Resurrection.

S ERM. for a pluSi bat be content with sicuty and never seek more;

XII ^ '

'■ — but that we must, for less sure we cannot be. Christ to be

plus quam JonctSy we to be minv^ quam Ninivit(B — ^it will not fit,
it holds no proportion.

Whatthia The sicut ye see, and the plus quam, both. Now what

tendT*'" ^® ^^^ profit of this sign of the Prophet ? This sign being
of Christ^s giving, Christ gives no sign, but it is signum in

Ps. 86. 17. bonum, *^ a sign for good," a good sign ; and a good sign is
a sign of some good. Of what good is this a sign ? Of
hope of coming forth sure. Coming forth whence ? From a
whale. What is meant by the whale ? the deliverance most-
what is as the whale is. And three whales we find here:
1. Jonas' whale; 2. Christ's whale; 3. and a third; and hope
we have, to come forth of all three.

First Jonas' whale. Death it was not^ it was but danger,
but danger as near death as could be, never man in more
danger to escape it than he ; if not in death, in Zalmaveth,

Ps. 23. 4. " in the vale of the shadow of death" it was.

Of any that hath been in extreme peril we use to say,
He hath been where Jonas was. By Jonas' going down the
whale's throat, by him again coming forth of the whale's
mouth, we express, we even point out the greatest extremity,
and the greatest deliverance that can be. From any such
danger, a deliverance is a kind of resurrection, as the Apostle
plainly speaks of Isaac ; when the knife was at his throat, he

Heb. 11.19. was '^received from the dead," oxreZ iv irapa^oXfj, though yet
he died not. This for the feast of the Resurrection.

And thus was Jonas a sign to them of Nineveh. As he
escaped, so they — he his whale, they theirs, destruction,
which even gaped for them as wide as Jonas' whale. And
as to them a sign this, so to us. And this use we have of it;

[isa.8.21.] when at anytime we are *'hard bestead,^^ this sign then to be
set up for a token. And there is no danger so deadly, but we
may hold fast our hope, if we set this sign before us, and say—
What? we are not yet in the whale's belly; why, if we were
there, from thence can God bring us though, as Jonas He
did.

Jonas' whale was but the shadow of death ; Christ's was

death. And even there in death to be set up. And we not

Job 13. 15. in death itself to despair, but with Job to say, yea, ^* Though

Of the Resurrection. 401

He kill me, yet will I trust in Him/* My breath I may, my
hope I will not forego ; expirare possum, desperare non possum.
Here now is our second hope ; to come forth, to be delivered
from Christ's whale, from death itself.

But if the whale be, or betoken, the death of the body, it
doth much more the death of the soul. So shall we find an-
other whale yet, a third. And that whale is the "red dragon," Rev. 12. 3.
that great spiritual Leviathan, Satan. And sin, the very jaws
of this whale, that swoopeth down the soul first, and then the
body, and in the end both. Jonas had been deep down this
whale's throat, before ever he came in the other's ; the land-
whale had devoured him, before ever the sea-whale meddled
with him. In his flight he fell into this land-whale's jaws
before ever the sea-whale swallowed him up. And when he
had got out of the gorge of this ghostly Leviathan, the other
bodily whale could not long hold him. And from this third
whale was Jonas sent, to deliver the Ninevites ; which when
be had, the other, of their temporal destruction, could do
them no hurt. Their repentance rid them of both whales,
bodily and ghostly, at once.

Here then is a third cape of good hope, that though one
had been down as deep in the entrails of the spiritual great
Leviathan as ever was Jonas in the sea-whale's, yet ^ven
there also not to despair. He That brought Jonas from the
deep of the sea, and David " from the deep of the earth,^^ his Ps. 7i. 20.
body so; He also delivered his "soul from the nethermost Ps. 86. 13.
hell," where Jonas and he both were, while they were in the
transgression.

And now by this are we come to the very signature of this
sign, even to repentance, which foUoweth in the very next
words, " for they repented at the preaching of Jonas." Jonas Mat. 12.41.
preached it, and indeed none so fit to preach on that theme,
on repentance, as he, as one that hath been in the whale's
belly ; in both the whales, the spiritual whale's too, for Jonas
had been in both. One that hath studied his sermon there,
been in Satan's sieve, well winnowed, crihratus TheologuSy he
will handle the point best, as being not only a preacher but a
sign of repentance, as Jonas was both to the Ninevites.

And as Jonas, so Christ ; how soon He was risen. He gave
order straight " that repentance," as the very virtue, the stamp

Dd

402 Of the Resurrection.

s £ R M. of His resurrection, and by it '^ remission of sins should be

preached in His name to all nations."

But, indeed, if you mark well, there is a near alliance
between the Resurrection and Repentance; reciprocal, as
between the sign and the signature. Repentance is nothing

Eph. 2. 1. but the soul's resurrection ; men are " dead in sin," saith the
Apostle, their souls are. From that death there is a rising ;
else were it wrong with us. That rising is repenting ; and
when one hath lain dead in sin long, and doth eluctariy * wrestle
out of a sin that hath long swallowed him up, he hath done as
great a mastery, as if with Jonas he had got out of the whale's
belly ; nay, as if with liazarus he had come out of " the heart
of the earth." Ever holding this, that Mary Magdalene raised
from sin, was no less a miracle than her brother raised from
the dead.

And sure, repentance is the very virtue of Christ's resurrec-
tion. There it is first seen, it first sheweth itself, hath his
first operation in the soul, to raise it.

This first being once wrought on the soul from the ghostly
Leviathan, the like will not fail but be accomplished on the

Eph. 6. 82. body from the other of death, of which Jonas is here mysterium
magnum ; dico autem in Christo, For in Christ this sign is
a sign, not- betokening only, but exhibiting also what it
betokeneth, as the Sacraments do. For of signs, some shew

Mat.12.41. only and work nothing; such was that of Jonas in itself, sed
ecce plus quam Jonas hic. For some other there be that shew
and work both — work what they shew, present us with what
they represent, what they set before us, set or graft in us.
Such is that of Christ. For besides that it sets before us of
His, it is farther a seal or pledge to us of our own, that
what we see in Him this day, shall be accomplished in our
own selves, at His good time.

And even so pass we to another mystery, for one mys-
tery leads us to another ; this in the text, to the holy mys-
teries we are providing to partake, which do work like, and
do work to this, even to the raising of the soul with "the

Rev. 20. 6. first resurrection." And as they are a means for the raising of
our soul out of the soil of sin — for they are given us, and we
take them expressly for the remission of sins — so are they no
less a means also, for the raising our bodies out of the dust of

1

I

Of the Resurrection. 403

death. The sign of that body which was thus ** in the heart of

the earth," to bring us from thence at the last. Our Saviour

saith it totidem verbis, *' Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh Joh. 6. 64.

My Blood, I will raise him up at the last day*^ — raise him,

whither He hath raised Himself Not to life only, but to

life and glory, and both without end. To which, &c.

nd2

A SERMON

PBXAOHKO BXFOBB

THE KING'S MAJESTY AT WHITEHALL,

ON THE FIFTH OF APBIL, A.D. MDCXYIII., BEING EA8TEB-DAT.

1 Corinthians xi. 16.

But if any man seem to be contentiousy we have no such custom^
neither the Churches of God.

Si quis auiem videiur conteniiosus esse^ nos talem consueiudinem turn
habemus, neque EccUsim Dei,

[But if any man seem to he contentious^ we have no such custom^
neither the Churches of God, Engl. Trans.]

S E R M, This is no Easter text as we are wont to have, nothing of

XITT • • •

-^— the Resurrection in it. It is not for the day.

1. How It is not directly, but if it should happen there were any
may senre Contention about Easter, that would bring it within the word
for Easter, a contentious" here. Specially, if that contention about Easter
were, whether it hath been ever a custom in the Church of
God, for that would bring it within in the word " custom"
here mentioned ; and so would it both ways fall within the
compass of the text. The custom of Easter made a conten-
tion, would make it an Easter-day text.
The text I Say not any such contention there is, I desire to proceed,
qualified^ ^ ^^^ Apostlc doth, without the least offence. 1. He saith
i,Videtur, uot, there be any " contentious," but " if any seem to be.''
That any be " contentious," it may not be said. They will
deeply protest that from their hearts they abhor all con-
tentions, and desire to walk peaceably. Be not then, but
*'seem to be.*'

Of the Resurrection. 405

2. Nay, not "seem to be" neither, St Paul says not so 2. Siquu,
luch ; says only, si quisy " if any ;" puts but a case, and "*^*
bere is no harm in that. No more will we, go no farther
ban the text : " K any such seem to be," this text tells what
o do ; if none be, none " seem to be," it is but a case put.
ind so by way of supposition be all said that shall be. All upon

Upon the view, three points give forth themselves : 1. Here tS)^^'
ire contentions : and 2. here are customs ; and 3. customs '^fj^'
)pposed to the contentions. These the three heads.

To break them yet farther into certain theses or propo- ^ ^
itions, to proceed by. 1. First, it should seem there were tiona.
contentions in the Apostle's times. 2. Contentions about
vhat? About matter of circumstance. So was this here,
vhether men were to pray uncovered, and women veiled or
10 ? 3. And that there were which did not only contend,
)ut which is more, were even "contentious** about these.
I. For those that were so, here is a si quis set up, "if any
5e6m to be" such, what to do to them.

Not to pass them in silence and say nothing to them, but 11.
:his to say; " we have no such custom, nor the Churches of church-

JT'

customs.

od." And so oppose the Churches* custom to contention.

In which sayings there are these heads : 1 . First, that the
[]!hurch hath her customs. 2. As she hath them, so she may,
md doth allege them. 3. And allege them finally, as the
\postle here, we see, resolveth the whole matter into them, as
into a final resolution. 4. And all this by Scripture con-
firmed, even by this Scripture, on which the customs of the
Ohurch are grounded, and the power that shall be ever in
them, to overrule the " contentious."

And let not this move you that it seems to be negative. Nan, habe-
Non habemus talem. As this time twelve-month Non dahitur Mat. 12.39.
nsiy a negative in shew, proved an affirmative, Dabitur^ sed J^® ^^ '
aon nisi; so will this Non habemus talem prove to fiabemus, year.
ied non talem. " Custom" we have, but "none such." To in shew;
apply it to the Apostle's purpose : " none," to sit covered at tive in*'
prayer, non talem, " none such," but the contrary rather ; to ®^*^**
be uncovered then, talem, such is our custom, such an one the
Church hath.

Where, because the negative refers not to habemus, but to ^^krof a
talem, and a custom is not therefore G^ood, because we have f*s^' <^"

' o ' torn.

406 Of the Resurrection.

S E R M. it, but because it is tdlemy so qualified. The talent to be,
^"^ - 1. First, if " we,** that is, the Apostles have had it, if it were
Apostolic ; the non talem to be, if our new masters have taken
it up the other day, and the Apostles never knew it. 2. The
talem to be, if " the Churches of God" in general have had it,
if it be Catholic. The non talem to be, if the Church of
Corinth, or some one Church perhaps had it, but the rest
never had any such,
ni. Then, will we descend to shew the keeping of Easter, to

Church- ^ such, evcr in use with " the Churches of God" from the
custom for time of the Apostles themselves. Which, if we can make
Easter. plain, here is a plain text for it ; that if one should ask. What
Scripture have you why Easter may not be laid down? it
may well be answered, Non habemus talem consuetudinem, nee
Ecclesice Dei, Custom to keep it we have — the Apostles, the
Church had it; but to abolish it, "such custom have we
none,*^ we depart from them both if we do.
There Protesting yet, that we have no purpose to wave Scripture

Scriptmre Q^*^'® ^^^ ^^ keeping of Easter. St. Augustine is plain:
for Easter. Hoc ex authoritate divinarum Scripturarum^ per anniversarium
cap. 14. * Pascha celebratur ; * Even by authority of divine Scripture it
'■'**'' is, that every year Easter is kept solemnly.' We have touched
Pa. 138.24. two Scriptures heretofore; "The day, which the Lord hath
made,^^ applied ever to this feast That text for the Old.
And for the New Testament that verse in this Epistle,
iCor. 5.7,8. "Christ our Passover is offered, let us therefore keep a feast.''
But the But every thine standeth safest and surest upon his own

custom [a base, and the right base of this I take to be custom. We do
SnSy ^^^ make ourselves to be pitied otherwhile, when we stand
wringing the Scriptures, to strain that out of them that is not
in them, and so can never come liquide from them, when yet
we have for the same point the Churches' custom clear
enough. And that is enough, by virtue of this text. There
is and shall be enough ever in this text, to avow any custom,
— the Apostles, the Churches of God had it ; to disavow any
— the Apostles, the Churches of God had it not.
The use of The fruit of our labour will be this I hope at least, to con-
point firra us in the keeping of it. We keep Easter, many of us,
^ter. ^^ know not upon what ground. By this we shall see we
have a ground for that we do; we do no more than the

Of the Resurrection. 407

Churches of God, than the Apostles have done before us.

So, our ears shall hear the voice in Esay behind us, H<bc est laa. 80. 21.

via, *' This is the way," ampulate in ed, " walk in it" as you

do> you are in the right, and there hold you.

'* If any.'' This *'if " I take it, is no idle (f, no vain suppo- I.

sition ; to say, " if there be any," where there were none.

No ; contentions there were. When ? when *' we" — who be

they ? St. Paul and his fellow Apostles, when they lived, i.
And " the Churches'' — ^what Churches? the Churches under tiona^n'
them, of their times. In the very prime of the Primitive g^i^^fj^jj
Church then were there contentions.

And those not with an enemy without, Jew or Gentile —
that were troXe/jLo^, ' war' abroad ; this is vei/co^y but * a jar' at
home, among themselves. That former abroad they repre-
sent by Ishmael and Isaac, and they were of two venters. Gal. 4. 29.
This latter at home, by the two twins in Rebecca's womb. I Geii.26.28.
fear the time ; else could I let you see this strife, in every
Church of them.

This I note first, that we may not ^evi^eadai, to use St.
Peter's term, " think it strange," if there be contentions in our i Pet. 4.12.
times. They shall be no strangers with us, in ours ; they were
not with them, in theirs. Neither contentions, in this verse ;
nor " schisms" in the next, the eighteenth ; nor " heresies," in
the nineteenth, next to that. It is of " the fiery trial" St. Peter
speaks it, of persecution ; it is as true of the watery trial of
contention. As true it is of the last as of the first Church,
" I proved thee also at the waters of strife." Those waters, Ps. si. 7.
the waters of Meribah, will hardly be drained ever.

There were contentions then; about what? For though 2.
peace be precious, yet of such moment may the matters be, tionsaJwut
as they are to be contended for, yea even to the death. For ^^*^.**^
what then were these ? For nothing but a matter of rite — men stance.
praying, whether they should be uncovered ; women, whether 4, 6.
veiled or no. For a hat and a veil was all this ado. It was
not about any the high mysteries, any of the vital parts of
Religion, Preaching, Prayer, the Sacraments ; only about the
manner how, the gesture and behaviour wherewith ; in what
sort to carry themselves at Preaching, Prayer, the Sacra-
ments; about matter of circumstance merely, and nothing
else.

408 Of the Resurrection.

s K R M. And even these, even the meanest things would be done
-^^'^i- "for the better," not "for the worse," saith the Apostle in the.
' next verse. And the more order, the better. So the Apostle
had set order for them, and inter alia, for this too. Other his
ordinances, he saith, they remembered well, but not this;
this was opposed. For with some all is not worth a rush, if
they see not farther than their fellows, nay their betters, then;
if they find not somewhat to find fault with, if it be but a
ceremony. And to pick a quarrel with a ceremony is easy.
A plausible theme, not to burden the Church with cere-
monies ; the Church to be free, which hath almost freed the
Church of all decency.
8. About such points as these were there that did not only

tentloS^" contend, but that grew contentious. Neuco^ is one thing, to
" h^h • contend ; ^CKoveiKLa another, to be " contentious." The
more than Apostle saith not, if any contend; but si quis contentiosiis.
tion. ' And asus is full; <f>C\j6 is one that loves it, is given to it
Strange any such should be, but the Apostle's '* if proves to
be no if. We see it daily in persons but meanly qualified, God
iCorMM. wot, yet so peremptory, as "if the word of God had come, it
not from them, yet to them only, and none besides." Good
Lord ! Why should any love to be " contentious ?" Why ?
It is the way to be somebody. In time of peace, what
reckoning is there of Wat Tyler, or Jack Straw ? Make a
sedition^ and they will bear a brain with the best. Primianus
and Maximianus were the heads of the two factions of Dona-
tists in St. Augustine's time. He saith, it was well for them
that faction fell out; else Primianus might have been Postre-
minianusy and Maximianus be Minimianus, well enough. But
now in schism either of them was a jolly fellow, head of a
party. This makes we shall never want contentious persons,
and they will take order we shall never want contentions.
„ ,^ Well, if any such should happen to be, what is to be done

Such con- , .

tention in such a case ? What saith the Apostle ? Saith he thus ?

neglected. Seeing it is no greater matter, it skills not greatly whether
they do it or no, covered or bare, sit or kneel, all's one ; sets
it light, and lets it go. No ; but calls them back to the " cus-
tom" of the Church, will not have them swerve from that,
makes a matter of it. For we see he presses the point hard,
spends many words, many verses, even half the chapter about it.

Of the Resurrection. 409

Why doth he so? For two reasons. 1. First, he likes not Not any

conten-
tion.

contention at all. Why ? If it be not taken at the first, ^j
within a while, within one verse after, ye shall hear of a
''schism," — look the eighteenth verse; and within a little
after that — look but to the nineteenth, ye shall have a flat
'* heresy" of it The one draws on the other ; if the conten-
tious humour be not let out, it will fester straight, and prove
to an apostume.

2. Nor, he likes not the matter wherefore, though it seem No, not in
but small. St. Paul knew Satan's method well; he seems g^i^fi ^^j..
somewhat shamefaced at first, asks but some small trifle. Give *®'^-
him but that, he will be ready for greater points. If he win For, from
ground in the Ceremonies, then have at the Sacrament; if^^To^sa-
he can disgrace the one, it will not be long but ye shall hear craments.
of him at the other.

Speak I beside the book? was it not so here? At the
very next verse, there he falls in hand with an abuse of the
Sacrament, and that takes up the rest of the chapter.

For when they had sat covered at prayer awhile, they grew
even as unreverent, as homely with the Sacrament ; eat and
drunk there as if they had been at home, in tricUniOy that the
Apostle is fain to tell them at the twenty-second verse, they
had homes to be homely at : the Church, the house of God —
they were to be used with greater reverence. " He did not
commend them" for this their rude carriage, at the Sacrament.
'' Did not commend them ?" you know what that meaneth —
minus dicitur^ plus intelligitur, he blamed them much for it.

Then are we to make stay at these less matters at first, as
the Apostle doth. To think the Wise Man's counsel worth
the following, ne sit tibi minimum^ non negligere minima, rcomp.
"count it no small matter, not to neglect small matters." What i^^t^
so small as an hair? when these small hairs were gone from judges 16.
Samson, his strength left him. In itself, in his own nature, a ' /
rite is not so much. This is much, that by it they learn to
break the Church's orders, and that thereby they are fleshed
to go on to greater matters.

Opposing then to these, what course takes he ? Lays for ll.
his ground this, non habemus talem. The force of his reason conten-
is. If " we," if « the Churches of God" had any such custom, chS^£*
it were somewhat, that were warrant enomrh for a Rite. But custom

' ^ opposeth.

410

Of the Resurrection.

SERH.

XIIL

1.

The
Church
hath her
customs.

Pand. 1.
Tit. 8. de
le^b. 85.
[36.]

Mat 23.23.

The Apo-
stles and
their
Churches
had;,their
customs.

2.

The
Church
allegeth
her cus-
toms.

now, we and they both have none such, nay we and they have
the quite contrary ; therefore, let us hear no more of it.

Where, it is plain, the Apostle is for the Church-customs.
1. And first, that she hath them. Every society, beside their
laws in books, have their customs also in practice ; and those^
not to be taken up or laid down at every man's pleasure. The
civil law saith this of custom, Imo magruB authoritatis hoc jus
habetur^ quod in tantum probatum est, ut nonfuerit scripto com-
prehendere necesse. Men, it seems, had a great good liking
to their customs, that they remembered them without book,
that they never needed to be put in writing, as their laws and
statutes did. Now as every society, so the Church, besides
her habemus legemy hath her habemus consuetudinem too. There
is such a thing as mos populi Dei.

And fear not traditions a whit Those respect credendoi
' points of doctrine ;' these but agenda^ * matters of practice,'
and that, not in points of substance, reach only to matter of
circumstance, go no farther. Nor do we even them with,
much less oppose them to, that which is written. Never any
custom against that ; no custom that comes from the will or
wit of man, against Scripture which comes firom the wisdom
and will of God. But h<Bc oportet facer e^ et ilia non omittere.
Only so.

The Church then hath her customs. I add, these ''we"
here, that is, the Apostles had them, and the Churches under
them had theirs. It was but early day then, yet had they
their customs, even then. At the writing of this Epistle, it
was not at the most thirty years from Christ's Ascension. If
that were time enough to make a " custom," now after these
twenty times thirty years, and thirty times thirty years, and a
hundred years to spare, shall it not be a " custom" now by
much better right? A custom is susceptible of more and
less; the farther it goeth, the longer it runneth, the more
strength it gathereth; the more gray hairs it getteth, the
more venerable it is, for indeed the more a custom it is.

Now then as the Church hath them, so she stands upon
them ; fears not, we see, to allege them, to say habemus^ or
non habemus, Habemus^ to uphold an ancient good one ; wm
habemus^ to lay down an evil one new taken up.

Here, negative^ non habemus talem. As our Saviour like-

Of the Resurrection. 411

vise — a principio non fuit sic. And yet by implication this In the
lere is. One we have, but not such an one. And our Saviour^s mS 19? 8.
here, A way there was ^' from the beginning," but this was
lot it.

But otherwhere, it is positive also, to affirm and to maintain In the
i good ; and men positively referred to know, what hath been ativT"
:he use in former times.

Higher than Moses we cannot go. Moses as a law-giver. Hath ever
^ne would think, would be all for law. He is positive full leg^
For custom too. " Enquire,'^ saith he, " of the days that be ^^^4 32
past, how it hath gone since the day God created the earth.''
And that, in the second edition, or setting forth of the Law.

Job is for it too. " Enquire, I pray you, of the former Job 8. 8.
age, and set yourselves to ask after the Fathers, for we are but
of yesterday — shall not they tell you,'' thus, and thus it was in
their times?

And say not the Prophets the same ? '* Stand upon the The Pro-
ways" — it is Jeremy, " and there look for the good old way, 5er. 6. I6.
and that way take, it is the only way to find rest for your
souls."

To all which agreeable is that wherewith I will shut up this The
point, which all the Fathers in the first Nicene Council took * ^"*
up, and which ever since hath been the Church's cry, ra
afyxala rjOrj /cpareLTO), mos antiquus obtineat^ ' let old customs [Can. 6.]
prevail,' let them carry it. By this you see, kabemus consuetu-
dinem hath been counted a sound allegation, not only from
the Apostles', but even from Moses' time.

And now for the talem, for it is not the habemus that 8.

. . The

binds, but the talem. Not because we have it, but because it badges of
is so qualified. It is not every custom, hand over head, we ^^^^
may stand on. Why binds not this? 1. Because, though it two.
may be it was at Corinth, Ecclesia Dei, " a Church of God,"
one Church, yet Ecclesice Dei, the other " Churches" of God
had it not ; the word is plural. 2. Because, though it hath
Uked some not long since to like well of it, yet the Apostles
never knew it ; or the other way, if it have liked them to
dislike it and lay it down, yet the Apostles liked it well
enough.

Non talem, saith the Apostle, "none such." Qualem then ?
How shall we do to know the right talem ? Thus. Non talem

412 Of the Resurrection,

S £ R M. i8 here opposed to two ; to ^^ the Churches of God^" to nos,

'— that is, the Apostles.

If it be If it be but of some one Church, but at Corinth alone, it is

^^^£^ too narrow; not large, not general enough. If it be but
taken up by some of our masters of late, it is too fresh, it is
not ancient enough ; non talenty '^ no such."

But by these two, we know our right qualem. If it be
Ecclesiarumy that is, if it be general ; if nos come to it, that is,
the Apostles, if it be ancient ; then is it rightly qualified, then
it is as it should be, then it may be alleged and stood upon,
then it will bind ; and then, if any oppose, videtur cantentiosm
esse.

I begin with the Church, in the plural. Every Church
hath power to begin a custom, and that custom power to bind
her own children to it ; provided her private custom affront
not the general, received by all others, for then binds it not.
By the rule in the mathematics, ever totum est parte majus ;
and by the rule in the morals, ever twpis pars omnis toti non
congrua.

As neither is any particular Church bound to the private
custom of another, like particular as itself is. But if tbe
other Churches' custom have also been the general custom of
the Church, then it binds and may not be set light, for then
Epistiia said it must be that St. Augustine doth say. If the whole
[54.6. B.] Church usually have observed aught, to go from that or to
question whether it be to be observed, insolentissimcB insanicB
est. It savours of a distemper coming of a heat or humour
Prov. 13. of pride, for " only by pride," saith Solomon, " cometh con-
tention." This for the Churches^ custom.
If nos. But if to this we add, or rather if before this we set this, nos,

the Apo- tt® Apostles had it too, that it is Apostolic ; we have then
sties had it. g^id as much as in this point can be said, as much as may
content any that is not '^ contentious," that is not more wedded
to shew his wit than to seek the truth, and more set ^vkdr-
reiv T7JV deaiVy * to maintain his own position,' than to regard
the Churches^ peace. For sure, if a custom be to be esteemed
by antiquity, such a custom is ab heroids usque temporibus^ for
they be our heroes. 2. If it be to be esteemed by the author,
what authors more worthy in themselves, more worthy of our
imitation, than they? Nothing can be devised more rea-

Of the Resurrection. 413

sonable than that in the one hundred and eighteenth Qu(Bst. [Se^xms.
ad Orthod. in Justin Martyr, That of, and from, whom we re- °'^
ceived to €vx€<T0ai to pray ; of and from them, we should also
receive to ttw? evx^cOat, how and when, at what time, at what
feasts to do it. . Their example, that is, the Apostles', the
Church commended to her children to practise — a better she
could not; that practice in time grew to a custom. That
custom is talem, may safely be alleged.

Lastly, as this sheweth it may be alleged for a good argu- 4.
ment in Divinity, so doth it 1. what the men are, against oft^i^
whom ; 2. what the matters, wherein ; 3. what the penalty, argument
whereupon it may be alleged. tom.

1. Whom against. This may be alleged against si quis Against
videtur contentiosus esse^ such as are, or at least " seem con- J[g *^ ^^^'
tentious/* Hahemusy or non habemus consuetudinem, is their
proper answer. No reasoning with such, it will be to small
purpose, they will be sine fine dicentes. St. Augustine saith
well, they cannot distinguish between respondere posse, and
tacere nolle, they take them for all one. So they cry loudest
and have the last word, they take it they have answered suffi-
ciently. Against these it lieth most properly. None so ready
a way to stop their mouths, for custom is matter of fact,
habemus or non habenms may be put to the twelve men, and
there is an end. St. Paul then using it here against these,
teacheth us to use it against the like. Against such parties,
against si quis videtur contentiosus esse, to put it upon this. Is
there a custom, or is there none ?

Specially, if the matter be of the nature of this here in the in what
text, where the question seemed to concern but matter of cir- ™*"®"'
cumstance and outward order, there hath it his right use, that
the proper place of it. You will say, But had it not been
good though to have used, some reason for it ? It had, and
the Apostle used divers, if that would have served — from the
signification at the third verse, from decency at the thirteenth,
from nature at the fourteenth. But to say the truth, such
he saw a wrangling wit would elude. The nature of the
question afforded none other. It was well observed, and set
down for a rule by the philosopher. That in moral matters,
men may not look for mathematical proofs, the nature of the
subject will not bear them. If not in moral, in ritual much

414 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. less : they of all other least susceptible of a demonstrative

xiii. -^
reason.

The Apostle saw this, and therefore finally resolves all into
the Churches' practice, by custom confirmed in matters of tbis
kind, enough of itself to suffice any that will sapere ad sobrie-
tatem. In so doing, as he took the right course we are sure,
so he taught us by his example in points of this nature, of
ceremony or circumstance, ever to pitch upon habemus or «o»
habemus talem consuetudinem. This to be final.
Upon 2. And then follows upon what penalty. Upon no other

r^Jj^ pain, but to be pronounced to be fallen into the Apostle's
si quis, to be taken and declared /?ro contentioso. Then if any
for every point of rite that takes him in the head, will hazard
the Church's peace; will not acquiescercy but set himself
against the Church's custom, he knoweth his doom here.
For it turns back reciproce. As, if any be ** contentious," the
Churches' custom is against him, so if any turn upon the
Churches' custom, be against it, it is no good sign ; videtur
saith St Paul, to the Apostle " he seems" so, and he had his
eyes in his head. And what such seemed to him, they may
well seem to us ; and we take them for no less that are like
stirring in matters of no more weight. And so an end of this
The argu- matter. For the Apostle, when he had said this, thought he
men na . j^^j ^^j^ enough, needed to say no more. The Churches'

custom shall ever be of force, to overrule such as are con-
tentious. And when St. Paul had said this, he had said.
And so have we.
III. This then being set down. That customs so qualified are to

ing^ Easter ^® kept, shall we now go on to the hypothesis that the keeping
18 such a Qf Easter is such ? And now I would the hour were to begin

custom. o

again, so much is to be said for it.
The time One foot of our compass we fix in the Apostles' times.
this cus- The other, where ? They appoint us Gelasius' time who was
*^™* fast upon the five hundredth year. Be it so.

How long From the Apostles' age which ended with St. John, who
stiesMOO. survived Christ sixty-eight years, and died the year 102,
i^ng the ^^^^^ Trajan, to Gelasius' age. Of these five hundred, the
Churches', first hundred years are for tios, the Apostles' time. From

thence, the four hundred years following, are for the Churches'.

Which four hundred we may divide again into two even

Of the Resurrection, 415

moieties — two hundred under persecution, two hundred under

peace.

To prove then our habemus consuetudinem, we cannot better Proofs for

begin than with this in the text, the contentions that from tom of the

the beginning rpse about it. Those very contentions prove j^.^proof^'

it It must be that must be contended for, and then it must ^rom con-
tentions

be, when it is contended for. These three things in this one about it
proof. 1. The contentions that were about it, even presently church
upon the Apostles' times; 2. The great care had, and con- ^fthEas-
tinual pains taken to lay them down, that is, the Churches^ ter.
contending for the feast ; 3. The censuring of those that took suredever
them up, with St. Paul's contentiosus here, and with somewhat tics, that
more ; of Blastus, at Rome in Europe ; or Crescentius in 5IX<fe
Egypt, for Africa; of Audseus, in Syria, for Asia ; — these were ^^^^'
the principals, these were all written up in the black book, by Epiphan.
those that registered the heretics ; by TertuUian, Epiphanius, Syn. An- '
Philastrius, Augustine, and Theodoret, all -five. Can^l.

But as God would have it, the question never was of the Thecon-
feast itself, but of the time of it only. All kept Easter, not about
though not all at one time. For the keeping they had the ^ut The *
Churches^ custom; for the time of keeping, they had their *^°^® ^"^^•
own ; — the feast of the Christians, the time of the Jews.

And I will tell you how this came, first. From St. James, How the
who was the first, there were successively one after another first came,
fifteen Bishops of Jerusalem, all of them of the Circumcision.
These, the sooner to win their brethren the Jews, conde-
scended to keep their Easter, XIV<». Lunce^ as they did.
That which was by them thus done by way of condescension,
was after by some urged as a matter of necessity, as if it were
not lawful but on that day to hold it.

The first that it took thus in the head, TertuUian in the Tertuii. de

Pt(B8CT»

end of De PrcBscriptione saith, was one Blastus about the days 63. Iren.
of Commodus. He began a schism. And Irenaeus presently Ep^h.
wrote De Schismate contra Blastum. But after, firom schism ^*^v?^*

' sive 50.

Blastus fell to heresy, and began that of the Quartodecimani ; ryid.Dion.
to whose manner of keeping it, for the most part, other Animad.
heretics did cleave, leaving the Churches' custom of purpose 50,-j *'^^*
since they were departed from her.

Great pity some in our days had not been then living to
have advised the Church to have saved her pains, and never

416 Of the Resurrection.

S K R M. have striven so about it : the shortest way waa to have made

'■ — no more ado, but kept none at all. But non habemus takm

consuetudinem, would have been their answer. But yoii will
easily guess, if these for not keeping it at the right time were
scored up for heretics, what would become of them that had
been against the keeping of it at all.
None Till now in our days, there was never any such but Aeriiis;

S^r,but he took it away clean, as Jewish. His reason was, saith Epi-
Epiph!* phanius, scorning it because " Christ our Passover is offered."
Hares. 76. a Christ our Passover is offered, let us therefore keep a feast,"
1 Cor. 6. 7, saith St Paul. Let us therefore keep none, saith Aeriiis,
holden for so saying for little better than crazed. There was
never any Council called about him ; but as Aerius was his
name, so was his opinion, and so it vanished into air, and was
All else blown over straight. Otherwise all heretics, an Easter they
ter, the had ; not so much as the Novatians that called themselves
tons, the" Cathariy that is, the Puritans of the Primitive Church, but one
^°d* n*"^* they had ; but like good fellows, by their Canon adiaphorus,
Socr. 1.5. they left every one at liberty, so he kept one, to keep it
whether way he listed ; but keep one he must This con-
tending about this custom from the beginning, sheweth from
the beginning such a custom there was.
2. Proof Next we avouch the Cycli PaschaleSy for the keeping it
Cycii Pas- right, which were indeed the Church's yearly Calendar, which
chaUs. ^ ^^ ^j^jg ^^y. ^j^g Greek Church call their ira<T)(aKL0Vy made of
[See Bin^- purpose for the just keeping it, at the very time. A pregnant
97. new proof for this custom, if there were none but it By Hippo-
lytus first, a famous Bishop and holy Martyr — his was the six-
teen-year Canon, set forth by him so timely, as it ended in
the first year of Alexander Severus.

2. And after him, that of eight years devised by Dionysius
Bishop of Alexandria, who was a Martyr also, and of high
account ever in the Church. And both these under the
persecution.

3. Then came Eusebius, whose device the Golden Number

4. was, or cycle of nineteen years. His held till Theophilus of
Alexandria's began. Now the time of the setting his is
recorded to have been the year 380.

6,6. Prosper came after him, and he set another. And last
came Victorinus of Aquitaine about the year 460, not much

Of the Resurrection. 417

before Gelasius. Two more came after these before it was i. Victor.
fully settled, but we will not pass our bounds. If no such 2*i)ionyB*
custom were, what needed all these pains, all this ado, in Jf^i^us.

I 1 • iii'/»«oTi ^®® Biiig-

tnese cycles settmg, and calculation of times ? It shews the iiam 7.
great esteem the Church had the feast in, that it was soecUt.'*^^
careful of the precise time of it every year.

And there was reason for it. Otherwhile thev were at an The use
after-deal, about the time. The year 454, within a year or ^cydt
two after the Council of Chalcedon, all were at a stand. ^°^^^^*'
Easter fell so high in April, they were in a doubt they had
been wrong; yea Leo himself, that then lived, and all.
Presently fell Leo to writing of letters about, to all reputed
any thing seen that way. To the Bishop of Lilybaeum^ in » Pascha-
Sicily. To the Bishop of the Isle Coos 2. To the Emperor Epl^es. 4.
Marcian' himself, and to the Empress* to solicit him, that he nu8^E*(>5
would not fail but send to Proterius Bishop of Alexandria to «^- 95«

Ed. 64.

help them out; as he did. And the like fell out in St. Am- ai, 94.
brose's time. Damasus and all were to seek about it, and he ai, 95.
then fain to clear it by his eighty-third Epistle to the Bishops
of iEmilia.

Now, upon the consulting of the Bishop of Alexandria 3. Proof.
there hangs a third proof — the Paschales JEpistolce yearly sent pasciiaies
abroad by that See, to this end. Leo' confesseth to the ^^^^^'
Emperor, that because they of Egypt were held for the most kopTaari-
skilful in the mathematics, best at calculations, it was by the sLhop of
first Council at Nice laid upon them, this trust, yearly to ^^f^*"'
calculate the day exactly, and to give notice of it in time to V i-^n-
other Churches, yea, to Rome and all.

And it was antiqua consuetudo, saith Cassian, who lived Coiiat. 10.
with Chrysostom, and was his Deacon, that every year, the
morrow after the Epipliania^ the Bishop of Alexandria sent
abroad his Paschales EpistolcSy to warn Easter over the world.
And when after, by reason of wars in the spring time, in
many places they were intercepted that they came not time
enough, order was taken anew by the great Council ofconcil.
Africa, that letters for warning Easter should come forth in. ^'
sooner, by the one-and-twentieth of August every year, that ^*P' ^^'
so they might have time to come whither they were sent
soon enough.

These Paschales Epistola were ever famous and of high

E e

418 Oftlie Resurrection.

SRRM. account, for other sood matter contained in them. Three of
them of Theophilus vre have extant, so highly esteemed

by St Hierome, as he took the pains to turn them into
Latin, and to him we owe them. But though by the Nicene
Council this was laid upon the Bishop of Alexandria, I
L. 1. c 6. would not have you conceive it began then. Ruffin saith, the
Council did but antiquum Canonem tradere^ * deliver the old
Canon' that had been before in use. For long before,
Ecci. Hist Euscbius mentioned those Paschales JEpistola sent about by
Kiceph. Dionyse, Bishop there, even under the persecution.
4 Proof Now if we will follow Job's advice, and set ourselves
Job as. to " ask of the Fathers,'' we shall find habemus talem consvetu-
Fathen dinem^ clear with them for it. 1. Those first, that lived after
Churches* ^^^ Churches' peace ; 2. Then those, that during the perse-
lattertwo ^^^^^"* Those in the Churches' peace, four ways: 1. By
hundred the Homilies or Sermons made purposely by them, to be
By the preached on this day. We have a full jury, Greek and Latin,
ui»n* *^ of them ; and that, of the most chief and eminent among
Easter-day. them : St Basil, Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Nyssen, Theophi-
lus Alexandrinus, Cyril, Chrysologus, Leo, &c. And yet I
deal not with any of those in Ambrose, Augustine, Maximus,
now extant ; I know they are questioned. I rely only on the
report of St. Hierome and Gennadius, who saw the right
copies, and what they saw have reported.

I will give you a taste of one. It shall be Nazianzen,

surnamed the Divine, and so one that knew what belonged to

Divinity. Thus begins he a Sermon of his upon it. * Easter

day is come, God^s own Easter-day ; and again I say, Easter-

1. In day is come, in honour of the Trinity ; the feast of feasts, the

[Orat. Se- Solemnity of all solemnities, so far passing all other feasts,

cun imt] holden not only by or for men, but even in honour of Christ

Himself, as the sun doth the stars.'
[S. Greg. And in his Funeral Sermon for his father, bavins occasion

Naz. Orat. , .11 n \ \ • n \ 1

19. vol. i. but to name it by the way, for that his father once, brought

ed. Colon. ^ ^^ l^st cast in a sickness of his, suddenly, as it were by a

1690.] miracle, recovered upon an Easter-day morning. ' It was,'

saith he, * Easter, the great and famous feast of Easter, the

queen and the sovereign of all the days in the year.' That

in his days they had sure such a custom.

And so it seems they had in Ignatius' days, for from him

Of the Resurrection, 419

borrowed he that term of lady and queen of days, out of his
Epistle ad Magnesianox.

2. By the hymns set for this day, to be sung on it. By By the
Prudentius that Hved in St. Ambrose's time. By St. Am-J^JS^Eaa-
brose himself. Before him by St. Hilary. But Paulinus ^'^^y*

I insist on. He, in his panegyric for Felix, sets down in
particular all the feasts in the year, as they were then in
use among them; Easter for a chief feast. He lived with
St. Augustine. A pregnant record for the Church's custom
then.

3. By their writings. 1. Some of them in their com- By their
mentaries, as St. Hierome, and namely on the Galatians, and t^cSng
on that place, " ye observe days.'' * If that be a fault,' saith ^*^'®'^-
he, * we Christians do incur that fault, all. For we keep,' by
name, * Easter, but not the Jews' Easter of unleavened bread
which the Apostle excepts to, but the Christian Easter of the
Resurrection of Christ' 2. Some, by way of Epistles and
answers ; as St. Ambrose's eighty-third Epistle, full to it ;

St. Augustine's hundred and eighteenth, and hundred and nine-
teenth, set Epistles concerning questions about it. 3. Some,
by their irokefiiicd. As Epiphanius, the treasure of antiquity,
in his fiftieth, seventieth, and seventy-fifth heresy, ad opposi-
turn. Positively, in his Compendium of the true Church's
orders, at the end of his Pannarium, whereof one is iraviffupL^
fieydXr) iv rfj rj/Jiipa rod IIda"xa, * the great solemnity upon
Easter-day.' 2, As St. Augustine expressly contra Adimantum, [le. s.]
the sixteenth chapter, and the thirty-second book against L32. ii.]
Faustus, that found fault the Church kept it, yet kept it not
as the Jews, confesseth the one — the Church's keeping,
traverses the other, that she ought, neither at that time, nor
in that manner to keep it, as they did; and that at large.
4. Some, by short Treatises, as Ambrose De mysterio Pa&ch(B ;
and some by full books, as Eusebius, who wrote a book of
the whole order of the Churches' Service then, dedicated it to
Constantine, was by the Emperor highly commended for it.

4. Lastly, as by writing, so by matter of fact. As Chry- :^ matters
sostom, who when he was deposed, and so enjoined not toofChT^-
come in any Church ; yet Easter-day coming, so loath he was ^^g™' jib.
not to keep it, as he got him in Thermas Constantini^ a 6- ^ ^ ®-
spacious great building for the public bath of the city, and

420

Of the Resurrection.

S R R BL there held his Easter, with a very great company, that would
* not forsake him. As Athanasius, who being accused to

Of Atha-

nasius.

Apolog.

ad Con-

gtantium,

[14.]

Custom
for the
three

Constantius the Emperor for keeping the feast of Easter in
the great Church at Alexandria, then but newly finished and
as yet not dedicate, he lays the blame from himself upon the
people, that would have it kept there, do what he could, the
other Churches were so narrow, and the concourse to the
feast so great, as he saith, it would have done the Emperor's
heart good to have seen it

And in his Epistle ad Africanos, with open mouth he
crieth out upon the Arians, that came in military manner to
instal their new Bishop, and the many outrages by them
done. Above all, that not only they did those outrages,
but did them of all days upon Easter-day, Et ne ipsum
quidem Dominicum diem sanctissimi festi ulld in reverentid
habuere, ' and had not in any reverence, not the very Sunday
of that most holy feast.'

Not the Sunday; for we are to know, the custom that
is continued with us still they then had, to keep two days
holy days beside the Sunday, three in all : for the Latin Church, plain
Horn. 1. by bt. Augustine de Civitate Dei, 22. 8. — in tertium Festi

in Pasch. •/ o ^

[SeeBp. diem; for the Greek, by Nyssen, who expressly termeth it

p. 139. Thus, all these ways, by singing, by saying, by writing, by

doing, all bear witness to it ; and I may safely say, there is
not one of them but one of these ways or other, he hath his
hand in it, and among them they make up a full proof,
of this habemus consitetudinem.

From the Fathers I pass to the Councils, and plead it by
all tne four. The Nicene first.

1. Two causes there were, saith Athanasius de Syn. Arim,
[See Bing- ^^ g^i ^f ^q assembliuff that Council. Nam et claudicabant

ham / . 90.] ' o

circa festum, and he makes that the first cause, * They halted
about the feast, kept it not uniformly;' and that was set
straight against Crescentius. And the Deity of the Son of
1.]. C.9. God was questioned, and that was put into the Nicene Creed,
lT.^c! 9. against Arius. You have the Council's Epistle for the settling
[1)8 Vit. it ; you have the Emperor's Sacra for the ratifying it, directed
3. 14.] ' Ad omnes Ecclesias, in the third book of his life, by Eusebius.
coiiVof ^* ^^^ ^'^® ^^^ General at Constantinople. As Constan-

Constaiit.

6. Proof.
From tlic
Councils.
The Ni-
cene.

Of the Resurrection. 421

tine in the first, so Theodosius at this was not behind. His [Cod.
law remains, whereby he provided that for fifteen days, from lib. 3.
the Sunday before the day till the Sunday after, no process deVeriU
should go forth, none should be arrested ; a general cessation ^®s- 8.]
of all, both processes and proceedings, in honour of the high
feast. That you have Easter-day, and the custom of holding
it solemnly, in the body of the law too, in Theodosius' Code.

3. At the third, of Ephesus, there have you, in the 2. Tom. At Ephe-
c. 32., Rudius, Hesychius, and RufHn, three Quartodecimanif^^^^^^
heretics, publicly in the face of the Council, recanting their io29-:ho.
error, subscribing, and promising ever after to conform and i6»6.]
keep their Easter after the custom of the Churches of

God.

4. And at the fourth, of Chalcedon, the sixth session, the At Chai-
Emperor being there then present in person, the whole
Council with one voice made this acclamation, Unum Pascha [Lab. 7.
orbi terrarum ; thanks be to God, * One Easter now, and but

one, all the world over.'

But before all these, the Nicene and all, by a dozen years Custom
at least, was the Council of Aries, and in it this custom pro- land.
claimed. I mention it, not so much for the antiquity, as that f^^"* ^^®"
by it appeareth how the custom of Easter went here with us f?i;n*
in this realm ; for at it was present and subscribed the Bishop
of London, Restitutus. A plain argument we had such a
custom then.

And for the other realm, Gelasius shall speak. In a Synod Custom in
of seventy Bishops, where he and they decreed what books
were to be read, what not, they say there was then a poem
of venerable Sedulius, who had the addition of Scotus for his Seduiius.
nation, which they do indgni laude prceferre, that is, ' very [Lab. 8.
highly commend.' Sedulius entitles it his Opus Paschale^ and '■'
begins it with Paschales quicunque dapes — as it were inviting
his readers, his countrymen I dare say specially, if they will
come to it, to a feast upon Easter-day.

But for both, none so worthy a witness as the Emperor Custom
Constantine, who in his rescript about Easter, directed to all Constan-
Churches, expressly nameth this isle, the isle of Britanny, V^ugei,.
among those places, where this custom was duly and orderly ;^^* ^"7^
observed.

All this while the Church had rest. During the persecution ^ ^^^;^

422 Of the Resurrection.

SERBL how went it? Two we will take in, in the passage between
— -^— the times of peace and persecution.

twohun- 1. Lactantius, the most part of his life lived under the
ofpcree^" persecution, but died in the Church's peace. 2. So did
Two "be- Pierius of Alexandria, for his excellent learning called Origen
tween x}^q vouncrer. In Lactantius' seventh book, and nineteenth

peace and ...

I>er8ecu- chapter, there is a plain testimony for the solemn keeping of

i^ctan- Eiister-eve. And Pierius, saith St Hierome, hath a long

Plerius. scrmou upou the Prophet Osee, made by him and preached

Hier.de at the solcmn assembly on Easter- eve. And if the eve were

ocr. 76.

SO held, we make no doubt of the day.
Under the 1. Now in the midst of the persecution there fell out a
peraeca- gp^^j^l case of Philip the Emperor, supposed to have given
of pmh' his own and his son's name to the Christian profession, as
the Em- Eusebius reporteth. In sign thereof he on Easter-eve offered

peror.

L. 6. c. 84. to join himself at the Church-service, as knowing that to be
their chiefest solemnity; which they failed not to keep, no
not then, when their case was at the hardest.
Euseb. L7. 2. And even then at Alexandria, Dionysius, the Bishop
Dionys. there held this custom. Thus writes he to Hierax, a Bishop
^^^^* too, and to others, out of prison. That though the persecution
then raged much, and the plague more, yet were the
Christians even then so careful not to break this custom as
they kept their Easter, some in woods, some on ship-board,
some in barns and stables ; yea they in the very gaol, keep
it they did even then, persecution and plague both notwith-
standing.
Cyprian. 3. Cyprian held this custom ; not by his Homily — I wave
2]!' 75. * it as doubtful, but in four of his Epistles I find it. I name
|Ed.Ba- \^^i Q^e his fifty-third. Some had consulted him in a

luz.j ' *> ^

question of some difficulty. He writes back, It was now
Easter, his brethren were from him, every one at his own
charge, solemnizing the feast with their people. So soon as the
feast was over, and they met again, they should hear from him,
he would take their opinions, and return them a sound answer.
4. Origen had this custom. In his eighth against Celsus
frankly he confesseth, That other feasts, Easter by name, the
Christians held them ; and that, as he saith, a-cfivorepov, ' in
more solemn manner' than Celsus, or any heathen men of
them all held theirs.

Of the Resurrection* 423

5. Tertullian had this custom. Many places in him. Only Tertuiu-
one I cite, in the fourteenth chapter, de jejunio. Quod si corona
omnem in totum devotionem dierum erasit Apostolus^ cur Pascha ^l'^^^
celebramus annuo circulo ? ^ If it were the Apostle's mind to ^^' 2- c.
raze out all devout observing of days quite, how comes it to Marc 4. 3.
pass, we celebrate Easter yearly, at the circle of the year
turning about V

6. Irenaeus had this custom. His Epistle to Victor sheweth irensBus
it ; to Victor, and to many more, saith Eusebius, about that ^^y^
question — understand still the question of the time, not of the i- 6. c 24.
feast. A book also we find he wrote de Paschate, in the

115 th Qucest in Justin Martyr. So he will be for it,
certainly.

7. And it is strange, even during the persecution, how Seven

books

many books we find written to deduce the custom by. then writ-
1. Beside that of Irenaeus, 2. One by Anatolius the great gjjgeb^ ^^
learned Bishop of Laodicea; 3. By Theophilus Bishop of^-?'^^-^^-
Csesarea, and 4. by Bacchyllus Bishop of Corinth, either of Cat.Script.
them one. 5. Another by Hippolytus, that made up the first 35.38. 4*3,
cycle. Yet, 6. another by Clemens Alexandrinus. And ^•^^•^^•
last, which indeed was first in time of all, two books, 7. by
the holy Martyr and Prophet Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in the
next age to the Apostles themselves, set forth by him as he
saith, at the time of the feast, and in the very holy-days of it.

Nay, there wanted not Councils then neither, and that in 7. Proof,
seven several parts of the world at once ; all in the midst of ccomciis
the fervor of the fiery trial, when the Church, God wot, could ^" t|jep«r-

*^ , secution.

but evil intend it. It was no time to contend then, but it i- Pales-
shews they made a matter of it, and no slight reckoning of 2. Pontns.
the retaining it. Else might they have slipt it without any 4 fj^^**

more ado. ^ France.

.6. Gnecia.

Enough, I trow, to shew, such a custom there was m all the 7. Asia
Churches these parties lived in, which were all the Churches Euseb. 1. 6.
God then had. They must needs seem " contentious," that ^ ^^'
will contend against all these. I see not how they can scape
the Apostle's si quis, that do. And this I say, if some one
example of some eminent man of worth will serve to make
an authority, if that ; then this cloud of witnesses, and those,
1, not persons, but whole Councils and Churches; 2. not in
some one region, but in divers, all the world over; 3. and that

424 Of the Resurrection.

S K u M. not for one time, but so many ages successively continued,
from generation to generation; what manner of authority

ought that to be ? the greatest sure, and none greater, but of

God Himself.

Proofe. Now to nos^ that is, to the Apostles themselves. First,

cw*om*** ^^^ *^ ^^ ^ custom Apostolic and so taken, St. Augustine is

was Apo- direct in his one hundred and eighteenth Epistle to Januarius,

1. Proof who had purposely sent to him to know his opinion touching

mony, ' Certain questions, all of them about Easter. Thus saith he

rjSf^^Y. tliere. 'For such things as come to us not by writing, but by

^•J practice, and yet such as are observed quite through the

world, we are given to understand they come commended to

us and were instituted either by the Apostles themselves, or

by General Councils, whose authority hath ever been accounted

of as wholesome in the Church.' Now what be those things

so generally observed toto orbe teiTarumf These; that the

* Passion, the Resurrection, the Ascension of Christ, and the
coming of the Holy Ghost from Heaven, anniversarid solenni-
tate celebrajitur, are yearly in solemn manner celebrated/

* And,' saith he, 'if there be any beside these,' for these are
most clear.

First, he is clear, it was the custom of the Church, far and

wide the world through. Then, that it must either by the

Apostles be institute, or by some Council. Not by any

Council. Many met about the time — about the feast never

any; that not questioned at all, taken pro confesso ever, and

Lib. 4. so Apostolic. They be his own words, ^ If the whole Church

con.Uonat. «l>serve any thing, not having been ordained by some General

cap. 24. Council,^ rectissime creditur, 'we are to believe^ rectissime,

' by as good right as any can be, right in the superlative, that

it came to us,' non nisi ah Apostolis, ' from the Apostles, and

from none else,^ nor by any other way. So St. Augustine is

for ?ios hahemus talem. So he held it.

Constan- An hundred years before him, Constantine is as direct in

Eus'eb.1.3. ^^^ Epistle Ad omnes Ecclesias. Many remarkable things

18. vita there are in that Epistle. 1. 'The most holy feast of Easter'

Constan- /..,,,

tini. four times he calleth it, that is the good Emperor's style;

' In so great a matter, in so high a feast of our religion to dis-
agree,' dOifiLTov ' utterly unlawful.' And 3. rl KaXKioVy ri
aefivoTcpov, ' what more honest, what more seemly, than that

Of the Resurrection. 425

this feast should be inviolably kept, by which we hold our
hopes of immortality ? ' — Mark that reason well.

But for Apostolic? '*Be it lawful for us Christians," saith [Ibid.]
he, * rejecting the Jewish manner, that day* ^viic irpdnr)^ rod
irdOov^ r/fiepa^ a'Xpt' tov Trapopro^ i^vTui^a/jbev^ * which day ever
since the very first day of His Passion we have to this present
kept, to transmit the due observing of it to all ages to come.*
Mark the words, 1. *They had kept Easter from the first day
of Christ's Passion, till that present time.' 2. And after that,
*We have received it of our Saviour.' 3. And yet again,
* which our Saviour delivered to us.' And concludes, that
4. accordingly, 'when he came among them, he and they
would keep their Easter together.' Nothing can be more fiill
that in his time this custom was, and that it was reputed to
have come from the Apostles, as begun from the very day of
Christ's Passion. Which Leo shortly but fully expresseth,
Legdlis guippe festivitas dum mutaiur, impletur, *The legal feast Leo, Horn,
of the Passover, at the fulfilling of it was changed, both at paidone!
once.' Fulfilled and changed, at one time both. No distance
between. And fulfilled, I am sure, it was in the Apostles'
time, and so changed then also.

If you will see it deduced in story, that may you too. 2. Proof
Thus of himself Irenaeus writeth, that he was brought up in ]^b!^
Asia under Polycarpus ; and that he, young though he were, {je^ ifg
observed and remembered well all his course of life. And S; ^* , ,
namely, how coming to Rome in Anicetus' time, he kept his Pwescript.
Easter there. Not when Anicetus kept it, but keep it he poiyl
did though. In the keeping they agreed, in the time they S^E^g.
differed. Either held his own. g' j^?

Polycarpus then kept Easter. Now Polycarpus had lived and the
and conversed with the Apostles, was made a Bishop by them, A^ortles.^
Bishop of Smyrna — Irenaeus and Tertullian say it directly, JJ*^
and he is supposed to be the Angel of the Church of Smyrna; rod futBri^
and Polycarpus, as saith Irenaeus, kept Easter with St John, ^Jl^r
and with the rest of the Apostles, totidem verbis, vt^yf «ai

Polycrates in his Epistle there, in Eusebius, expressly ^^jy »Air'o-
saith that St Philip the Apostle kept it. If St. Philip and ^f^^^^^^
St John, by name, if the rest of the Apostles had it, then nos rpt^^y
habemus is true ; then it is Apostolic. ^J^'

Ff

426 Of the Resurrection.

s E R M. But yet we have a more sure ground than all these. The
- — Lord's Day hath testimony in Scripture — ^I insist upon that;
24^^ * ' that Easter-day must needs be as ancient as it For how
the A^^-^ c»"™® ^^ ^ ^ "^® Lord's Day/' but that, as it is in the Psalm,
stiekeptiu <« t^g Lord made it?'' And why made He it? but because

8. Proof •'

from the on it, "the Stone cast aside," that is Christy "was made the
Day. Head-Stone of the corner?" that is, because then the Lord
pT^iis/^ rose, because His resurrection fell upon it?
22. 24. Now what a thing were it, that all the Sundays in the year

ii9.[65.B.] that are but abstracts, as it were, of this day, the very day of
Die»Do- the Resurrection, that they should be kept; and this day, the
^Q^^. day itself, the prototype and archetype of them all, should not
nU retur- jj^ kept, but laid aside quite, and be clean forgotten ? That
Domini the day in the week we should keep ; and the day of the
utetex month itself, and return of the year, we should not keep?
^^^.. Even of very congruity it is to be as they, and somewhat
^^i^otem more.

Take example by ourselves. For his Majesty's deliverance

the fifth of August; for his Majesty's, and ours, the fifth

of November, being Tuesday both; — for these a kind of

remembrance we keep, one Tuesday every week in the year.

But when by course of the year in their several months, the

very original days themselves come about ; shall we not, do

we not celebrate them in much more solemn manner? What

question is there ? weigh them well, you will find the case

alike. One cannot be, but the other also must be Apostolic.

4. Proof 1. For the last proof I have yet reserved one ; or rather.

Church's three in one. 1. The custom of Baptism, known to have

Ewter^ ^^ ^^^^ ministered as upon that day, all the primitive Church

1. The through. A thing so known, as their Homilies de JBaptismo

Baptism, were most upon that day. St. Basil I name. In bis upon

custom of Easter-day, he shews the custom of baptizing then, and the

IIlLfJl'^^ reason of it.

Hures then

deter- 2. The usc of the keys, at that time specially. Then were

the censures inflicted; then were they released. 1. Inflicted.

Against that time, did St. Paul cut off the incestuous person,

that a little leaven might not sour them all. Even against

1 Cor. 5. the time that " Christ our Passover was offered, and they

'* • therefore to hold this feast." 2. Released. So you shall find

Of the Resurrection. 42T

the Council of Ancyra, elder than that of Nice, order, the can. 6.
censures should determine all, endure no longer 'than the
great day' — so in their common speech they termed Easter,
and then all to be restored. 8. To which purpose the Coun- ban. 5.
cil of Nice took order, there should be in Lent a Synod
yearly to this end ; that by it all quarrels being taken up,
and all things set straight, they might be in better case to
come with their oblation at Easter to the Sacrament.

And last, by the never broken custom of a solemn Eucharist, 3.
ever upon this day. Origen in his seventh upon Exodus, he tom of a"
saith, our Easter-day far passeth the Jewish Easter. They S^™™^'
had no manna on theirs — the Passover was eaten in Egypt,
manna came not till they were in the wilderness — but we,
saith he, we never keep our Passover, but we are sure of
manna upon it, the true Manna, " the Bread of life that came john 6.
down from Heaven." For they had no Easter then without a ^^' ^^•
Communion.

Leo joins both, he might well all three. Paschalis quippe h^^ g
solennitatis hoc est proprium, ^ This is a peculiar that Easter- ^1
day hath,' ut in ed tota Ecclesia remissione gaudeat peccatorum^ drag.
^ that on it, all the whole Church obtaineth the remission of
their sins.' One part, qui sacro Baptismate renascuntur^ by
virtue of the solemn Baptism then ministered ; the rest, by
benefit of the Eucharist they then receive, ad rubiginem mor-
talitatis, — it is his term, * to the scouring off the rust, which
our mortality gathereth' by the sins and errors of the whole
year.

I will conclude all with the words which St. Ambrose con-
cludes his eighty-third, his Paschal Epistle with, to the
Bishops of iEmilia : Ergo, cum tot veritatis indicia concurranty
juxta majorum exempluniy Festum hoc publicce salutis Iceti exuU
tantesque celebremus ; ^ Since then there be so many proofs for
this truth that thus meet, according to the example of our
forefathers, let us with joy and gladness keep this feast of our
common salvation.^ How? Sumamus spiritu ferventi Sacra'
mentum in azymis sinceritatis ; * Let us receive the holy Sacra-
ment, with the sweet bread of sincerity.' Postes nostrosy ubi
est ostium verbi, sanguine Ckristiy injide passionis coloremus.
* The posts of the door of our mouth, that is, our lips^ let us

428 Of the Resurrection.

s £ R M. dye them with the Blood of Christ, in the faith of His blessed

XIII

■ — Passion/ Ensuing the steps of the Apostles and the Churches

of God^ all, with whom joining in both, let us expect the
blessing of God upon us, &c.

END OF VOL. II.

OXFORD :
PRINTED BT I. SHRIMPTOM.

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